The Roar Heard 'Round the World
by CrisisThat'sFuckedUp
Summary: Brittany finds a larger-than-regular lion on the side of the road when she pulls over to reply to a text. Not knowing this lion is a spirit animal and can shift into a human she still does the insane - yet nurturing - thing and takes the lion home, looks after it and falls in love with the girl beneath the large, furry creature. G!P&Lion!Santana.
1. Finding Canine

**2011 - July**

" _I want to break free. I want to break free! I want to break free from your lies, you're so self-satisfied; I don't need you. I've got to break free. Yeah. God knows; God knows I want to break free._ " Brittany sang along to her second copy of her Queen CD as she drove down an empty street, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel and bopping her head along to the music, " _I've fallen in love! I've fallen in love for the first time and this time I know it's for real-ah. I've fallen in love. Yeah. God knows; God knows I've fallen in love. It's strange but it's true; I can't get over the way you love me like you do but I have to be sure when I walk out that door! Oh how I want to be free, baby! Oh how I want to be free. Oh! How I want to break free!_ "

She made the guitar sounds with her mouth, continuing to tap away at the steering wheel to the beat of the song, bopping her head and sighing when her phone went off on the seat next to her. She turned down the song, picked up her phone and pulled over to the side of the road, putting her car in park and unlocking her phone, her truck still running as she opened her new text and groaned.

"Jesus! I'm singing a song here; God! Do you ever stop texting me?" She huffed as she read the text and began to reply.

 **FROM Sam: Babe, please come back here so we can talk about this. I know I fucked up but that doesn't mean I don't love you… it just means I made a mistake. A BIG mistake. And I love you. So please come back.**

"Blah, blah. _I love you._ Blah, blah." She whined as she typed, irritated, on her keyboard.

 **TO Sam: Nope. You said that last time, Sam. I'm not falling for it again. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. But fool me THREE TIMES? Shame on both of us.**

She put her phone back on the passenger seat and put her truck in drive, looking out onto the road and letting out a shocked shriek at the sight before her; a large, male lion standing in front of her car looking dehydrated and beaten up, "Oh, my God." She breathed out, shutting off her car as the lion's big brown eyes met hers through the windshield and her breath got caught in her throat, "Oh, God. Poor guy." She said, unbuckling herself and climbing out of her car, shutting the door and moving slowly, carefully and cautiously towards the gigantic – yet, starved and skinny – lion. He was way bigger than a regular lion which caused Brittany to be more cautious than she usually would be, "Hey, big guy." She said gently, moving closer with her hands at her sides, not wanting to scare the poor creature, "Hey…" She whispered, stepping closer to the large cat as it stepped closer on weak legs and looked at her with sad eyes, "Aw, buddy. You look starving and thirsty." She said, reaching her hand out and letting her fingers gently tangle themselves in the lion's mane, "Okay. Here's what I'm gonna do; I assume you escaped from the zoo but by the looks of things they haven't been taking proper care of you. But not to worry, I'm studying to be a vet. So I'm gonna take you home with me, okay? You can lay down in the back of my truck and rest your legs. And when we get back to my place I'll give you as much water as you can drink and a ton of food, all right?" She suggested, truly believing the lion understood her, "You're gonna be okay, big guy. Come on, follow me to the back."

The large cat slowly followed her to the back of her truck and watched her with tired eyes as she opened the canopy and patted the fitted mattress inside. The cat got the idea and leaped up into the truck, bending its head, as it was far too big for the height of the canopy, and walking slowly to the back. Brittany watched it lay down and then climbed in, opening one of the windows for some air and running her hand down the lion's back, smiling in surprise when it purred and shut its eyes.

"I promise you're gonna be all right." She whispered, confident that the animal understood her, before she climbed out of the canopy and shutting it, locking it and peering in the window at the resting lion. She then exhaled a deep breath and walked back to the driver's side, climbing in and opening the small window that led to the canopy, "I'm gonna start the car now, buddy, so don't get a fright, okay? The engine's pretty loud." She warned the lion before starting the truck and turning the music all the way down, glancing at her phone which was blinking at her with a new message before rolling her eyes and starting the truck, pulling back onto the road and making her way back down the empty street toward the house she shared with two of her friends which was situated in a completely open and empty area behind the woods.

-TRHRTW-

Brittany parked next to Kurt's Cadillac and shut off the engine, peering through the canopy window and smiling softly at the sight of the sleeping animal in the back. She lifted her phone from the passenger seat and checked her new text with a frustrated sigh.

 **FROM Sam: Baby, please.**

 **FROM Sam: You know how much I love you, Britt. Please don't shut me out.**

 **TO Sam: Stop texting me, Sam. If I get one more text from you I will never speak to you again.**

She locked her phone, tucked it in her pocket and opened the driver's door, climbing out of her truck and shutting the door, locking it and glancing towards the house as the front door opened and her other friend Penelope walked out with her arms folded over her chest and a grey cardigan wrapped around her body.

"Hey. You're home. I thought you were fighting with Sam?" She asked and Brittany put her finger over her lips, silencing the woman as she peered through the open window in the canopy and saw the lion was now awake and had lifted its head, realizing the truck had stopped.

"Penny, I have something in the back and I'm gonna need you not to freak out, okay?" She said, moving to the door of the canopy and unlocking it as Penelope walked toward her and stopped next to her with a frown, "It's really nice and gentle and super dehydrated and tired. So you can't shriek and squeal and call animal control because this big guy escaped from the zoo and I can't send him back there. They weren't looking after him."

"Uh, Britt? I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about." Penelope said and Brittany inhaled a deep breath, opening the door to the canopy and revealing the large lion inside it, wide awake and yawning. Penelope gasped and jumped back at the sight of the large yawn the lion made revealing its sharp teeth and large tongue, "Jesus Christ, Brittany!" She hissed and Brittany pouted at her.

"Penny, you can't do that. He's really sweet. And look at him; he's completely worn down and it looks like something or _someone_ beat him. And he's hungry and thirsty and I _am_ studying to be a vet so I figured why not bring him home and take care of him?" She said.

"Because he's a wild animal; he's a fucking lion, Brittany." Penelope said and Brittany sighed, climbing into the canopy, "Brittany, don't go near that thing; lions are the most dangerous when they're hungry, you know that!"

"Penny, shut up." Brittany said, sitting next to the lion and crossing her legs, running her hand over its dirty fur and burying the fingers of her free hand in its mane, scratching the top of its head and earning a loud purr, "See? He's harmless. He just needs some proper care."

"No, Brittany; you're not bringing a larger-than-normal _male_ lion into our house. No way."

Brittany pouted and rested her head next to the lion's as it peered out of the truck and studied Penelope with its tired and droopy eyes, "Please, Aunt Penny? Please can we come in? We won't eat anything but the food you lovely people give us. And we'll keep off the furniture, we promise." Brittany said in a child's voice and Penelope sighed, folding her arms across her chest and raising her perfectly shaped eyebrow at Brittany, " _Please._ We don't want to go back to the horrible people at the zoo. They didn't treat us properly. And Brittany saved our life. Please, Penny? Pretty please?"

Penelope looked back towards the house and saw Kurt coming out the front door. She then sighed, tilted her head to the side and looked at the lion while Kurt approached, "Well, he _is_ beautiful." She said, "And I can see he hasn't been treated very well." Brittany smiled and raised her eyebrows in hope, "Look, Britt; it's fine by me but you're convincing Kurt."

"Convincing Kurt of what?" Kurt asked as he stopped next to Penny and looked into the canopy to greet Brittany, "Hey Brit—Oh, God! Oh, sweet Lord! There's a lion in Brittany's truck!" He shrieked and Brittany huffed as the lion startled slightly and moved its head back. Brittany sat next to the lion's head and gently rested it in her lap, noticing how it was bigger than her torso, and tangled her fingers in its large, dark mane, continuing to scratch its head.

"Kurt, please." Brittany sighed, "Don't scare him. He's hungry and thirsty and he's incredibly tired. He just needs to stay here until he's stronger, please? Penny said it's fine and he'll stay in my room."

"No." Kurt said firmly, frantically shaking his head, "No way."

"Why?" Brittany whined sadly.

"Because, first of all, it's illegal to have a wild animal in your home and, second of all, he's a great, big, male lion who looks _way_ bigger than a regular male lion." Kurt said, "No. Not happening."

"Kurt. He'll stay in my room and I'll feed him and take him outside to go to the bathroom and I'll give him water and bathe him and I'll take care of him fully. You guys don't have to do anything except let him into the house because he's tired, he's hungry, he's thirsty and he's been hurt by the people at the zoo." Brittany said and Kurt raised his eyebrows in sympathy for the creature, "Please? He won't hurt you guys; I mean, he's starving right now and he's letting me scratch his head for God sakes." She pointed out and Penelope looked at Kurt with a hopeful expression, "Kurt, please? I'm not taking him back to the zoo and I am _not_ calling animal control because they'll either put him down or take him back to the stupid zoo. And you know how much I hate zoos. They're cruel."

"And keeping him in a house is better than keeping him in an enclosure?" Kurt asked with a raised eyebrow and Brittany nodded.

"Yes. Because there's an open forest behind our house and when he's stronger he'll have free reign to do whatever he wants in the forest." Brittany pointed out and Kurt sighed before looking at Penelope who nodded and he then groaned toward the sky and looked at the lion who was continually purring while Brittany scratched its head.

"Fine. But if he scratches anything to shreds or eats our shoes, he's gone." Kurt said and Brittany smiled widely with a nod.

"I promise; he won't be a bad lion." She said before leaning down and kissing the lion's forehead, "Hear that, big guy? You get to stay here for as long as you need." The lion purred and yawned again, "You've got some great teeth, there, buddy. I'm gonna call you Canine since I don't know your given name." The lion looked at her with his big brown eyes and Brittany swore he was smiling at her through them, "Come on. Let's go inside, huh?"

Kurt and Penelope backed up and away from their risky friend who was now scooting out of the canopy with the lion crawling next to her. She jumped out and Canine followed suit, landing right in front of Kurt who shrieked at his size and widened his eyes when the animal, who's head ended at Kurt's neck, looked him in the eye and yawned again before turning and walking towards Brittany with his tail hanging low – sad and worn down – as the blonde patted his back and led him inside with Kurt and Penelope now closing her canopy and then following incredibly slowly behind their friend and new pet.

"She's fucking crazy." Kurt mumbled to Penelope before jumping back when Canine turned his head and growled slightly, having heard him insulting Brittany.

"Welcome to the Pierce-Hummel-Gerber Residence." Brittany said to Canine who looked around the house and then looked up at her as she smiled at him and then led him to her room, "I'll give you a tour when you've rested and have enough energy. We're gonna be roomies; just feel free to look around my room while I get you some food and water, okay?" She said as she opened the door that said _Bee_ on it, which was across from the door that said _Penny_ , and walked into her room, holding her hand out, presenting the large area to the lion who looked around and walked to the window, leaping up and resting his front paws on the windowsill, peering out as Brittany shut the door behind her and fast-walked to the kitchen while Penelope and Kurt sat down in the living room and watched their caring – yet totally insane – friend open the fridge and pull out the large water jug before digging in the cupboard under the sink and pulling out the largest Tupperware they had. She put the Tupperware on the counter separating the kitchen from the living room and emptied every ounce of water from the jug into it before plonking the empty jug down next to it and opening the fridge again, pulling out the Tupperware that had three raw, marinated steaks in it and taking off the lid.

"Hey, hey. You can't give him those; I'm making those for dinner tonight." Penelope said from the living room as Brittany lifted the Tupperware filled with water and rested it on her forearm, gripping the ledge of it and picking up the Tupperware with the steaks.

"No, you're not." She shot back before walking carefully back to her room so the water wouldn't spill and opening the door with her foot, "Here ya go, Canine." She announced, smiling when she saw the lion lying on her purple shag carpet with his eyes closed, resting. When he heard her voice his eyes opened and he lifted his head to see what she had in her hands. She put the Tupperware with the steaks in it on her bed and then grabbed the edge of the water Tupperware, lowering it to the ground on the carpet and smiling when Canine immediately began to lap up the water at lightning speed while she grabbed the other Tupperware and putting it down next to the water, "Whoa," She said, peering into the now empty water bowl, "You _were_ thirsty." Canine looked up at her, licking the sides of his mouth before sniffing the steaks and beginning to eat them, "I'm gonna go get you some more water, okay? I'll be right back."

Brittany lifted the water bowl, moving back to the kitchen earning a sigh from Penelope, "He's gonna eat and drink us out of house and home, Brittany." She huffed and Brittany rolled her eyes, moving to the tap and refilling the water bowl.

"He's starving and dehydrated." Brittany said, "He's an animal; he has organs, feelings and a soul. He needs love, care and attention. He's staying. One of you go out and get the biggest steaks you can find. Make sure to get as many as you can with all the money in my wallet."

Brittany pulled her wallet out of her pocket at the Tupperware filled up slowly and put it on the counter. Kurt stood and moved over to the counter, peering down the hallway to make sure the large lion wasn't roaming the house, "Fine. I'll go." He said and Brittany glanced over her shoulder at him with a grateful smile.

"Thank you." She said before focusing her attention back on the Tupperware.

"I'll use some of my cash as well. You coming, Penny?" Kurt asked as he grabbed Brittany's wallet and opened it, pulling out all her cash and tucking it in his pocket.

"Uh… No. I'll stay and help Britt with Canine." Penelope said, standing from the couch and moving to the kitchen to grab the now full water bowl. She picked it up as Brittany shut off the tap and then followed the blonde to her room slowly while Kurt said goodbye, grabbed his car keys and left the house, "Where do I put this?" She asked Brittany who was stroking Canine's head and lifting the empty Tupperware.

"Just here." She said, "Canine, Kurt's gone out to get you more food, okay? I'm gonna make you a bed and you can rest before dinner, all right?"

Canine purred and stood, moving back to the windowsill while Penelope put the water bowl down on Brittany's nightstand. Canine looked out the window at the forest as Penelope and Brittany pulled the spare queen-sized mattress out from under Brittany's bed, "I'll grab sheets, our spare continental pillows and a comforter." She said and Brittany nodded, pulling the shag carpet towards the window and resting it just behind Canine's back paws. She then grabbed the mattress and pulled it back to where the carpet ended. She then grabbed the water bowl and put it back on the shag carpet, gaining Canine's attention as he put his front paws down and moved onto the carpet, bending his head and drinking some of the water. Penelope came back into Brittany's room with a queen-sized sheet, a queen-sized comforter and four large, square continental pillows wrapped in pillow cases the same shade as the sheet. She and Brittany made the bed and Brittany pulled back the comforter while Canine watched them.

"All right, Canine. Hop in. You've got your water and a nice, cozy bed." Brittany said, "When you wake up we'll take a bath and then eat some dinner, okay? And then I'll check your bruises."

Canine walked cautiously onto the mattress and sniffed the sheets, pillows and comforter before lying down – the perfect size for the mattress – and shutting his eyes with his head rested on one of the pillows while Brittany brought the comforter up over him and tucked him in. She leaned down, stroked his mane and then kissed his forehead before standing, checking that the water bowl was still half-full and then walking around the mattress, signaling Penelope to follow her out of the room. She shut the door quietly behind them and the two women walked through to the living room. Brittany sat down in her recliner after grabbing her laptop off the coffee table while Penelope sat down on the sofa and sighed.

"You're a good person, Britt." She said, shutting her eyes, "But just be careful, okay? Don't treat him too much like a pet because wild animals are _not_ made to be pets."

"I know, Penny." Brittany sighed, opening her laptop and going onto Google before pulling her phone out of her pocket and typing out a text to Kurt.

 **TO Kurt: Grab a lot of cat shampoo and conditioner too. Canine needs a bath.**

"Britt?" Penelope said and Brittany looked up at her as she rested her phone in the cup holder on her recliner, "You really are a good person. I mean, you're totally insane but you're a good person… a _great_ person. I mean that, you know."

Brittany smiled and nodded, "I know." She said, "Thank you." Penelope nodded and closed her eyes again while Brittany typed something into the Google search bar.

 _Lions that can understand humans, are completely tame when hungry and thirsty and are bigger than regular sized lions_

She hit search and chewed on her index finger's nail while the search results popped up. She scrolled through them and only one result caught her eye.

 **Spirit Animals – Humans that can shift into animals**

There are four types of Spirit Animal: wolf, polar bear, jaguar and lion… Humans that have spirit animals…. The lions and polar bears are the strongest of all spirit…

She clicked on the result and sniffed as it loaded all the information on the site. She frowned as she read through all the information and then gasped as her mouth fell open, "Penny, listen to this." She said and Penny hummed, opening her eyes as Brittany's phone pinged in the cup holder, "All right: _There are a select number of humans in the world that are born with spirit animals. Each spirit animal – wolves, polar bears, jaguars and lions – consist of five families with an exception for the polar bears which consist of ten or more families. These families run in a pack or a pride and stick together from birth._ " She read and Penelope frowned in confusion, " _Lions: the lion spirit families are nowhere to be found and are suspected to be residing in_ _ **Lima, Ohio**_ _. No proof of this has been given. The lion spirit animals are kind, gentle, loving and calm unless they are faced with danger. When hungry, they are tame in the presence of humans that offer to feed them. When tired, they are tame in the presence of humans who pet them. When it comes to the mate of a spirit animal lion these lions will do no matter what to protect their mate and cubs. All mates are human in the lion families. When in the presence of his or her mate, a lion spirit animal will be calm, cool, collected and will make eye contact as well as following said mate's orders and letting said mate take care of them. A spirit animal lion, in the presence of his or her mate, will only shift back to his or her human form when they are confident that their mate will not overreact._ "

Penelope's eyes widened and her mouth fell open, "Oh, God." She whispered and Brittany looked at her with wide eyes and a nod.

"I know." She said, scrolling down to read more of the text on lion spirit animals, "Canine may be a person… and I may be his mate."

"Britt, this is crazy. Are you sure this information wasn't written by some whacko trying to scare people?" Penelope asked and Brittany inhaled a deep breath, exhaling as she read more of the text to Penelope.

" _These lions are larger than regular lions and the King of the pride is always the biggest of all the other lions in his or_ _ **her**_ _spirit animal pride._ " Brittany said, "The King of the pride can be a girl." Penelope frowned in confusion before Brittany continued, " _In the case that the King of the pride is a woman, that woman will be born with a_ _ **penis**_ _and will be bigger in lion form than a King lion who is born male. This is not unusual in spirit animal families. And a female lion born with a penis will not produce a female born with a penis with her mate; the legend skips a generation therefore that woman's cubs, when older, may or may not produce a woman with a penis with their mates._ " Brittany read and then looked at Penelope, "Canine could be a girl."

"Brittany, this is ridiculous." Penelope chuckled and Brittany gave her a pointed look.

"You have to admit that this is entirely possible." She said.

"No, Britt. This isn't Twilight." Penelope argued, "It's just not possible."

"Blah, blah, blah. _The number of cubs a spirit animal lion has with his or her mate also skips a generation. The generation currently assumed to be residing in_ _ **Lima, Ohio**_ _are single children therefore these lions, when they meet their mates, will have twins, triplets or quadruplets and them or their mates will be pregnant three to four times. They will never have a single child unless through adoption – which is rare – or surrogacy._ " Brittany read, "Penny, you have to admit that this could be completely true. You just _can't_ deny it."

"Brittany, you're living in Wonderland." Penelope said with a chuckle, shaking her head, "The only reason Canine is tame is because he came from the zoo."

"You can never tame a regular lion." Brittany pointed out and Penelope looked at her with a thoughtful expression, "Canine understands me when I talk to him, he – or _she_ – made eye contact with me when I found him or her _and_ a regular lion would've eaten all three of us by now if it was hungry but Canine didn't. He was calm; he let me stroke him and pet him and scratch his head and he – or _she_ – _purred_ for God sakes. This information is completely legit."

"No, Britt, it's not." Penelope argued.

"Fine. I'll bet you my next paycheck that Canine shifts into a human while he – or _she_ – is here. If he doesn't, you get my paycheck but if he does you have to do the dishes on my nights for a month." Brittany suggested and Penelope raised her eyebrow in interest, "Deal?"

"Deal."

-TRHRTW-

 **FROM Kurt: Come help me unload the car. The trunk and back seats are full of grocery bags and my car's starting to smell like meat.**

 **TO Kurt: On our way.**

"Kurt needs help unloading the car." Brittany said, shutting her laptop and putting her phone on top of it on the coffee table. Penelope stood and followed Brittany outside to help Kurt unload all the groceries he bought. Brittany peered into the back of the car and her eyes widened, "Kurt, where did you get the money to buy all this?" She asked as Kurt unlocked the trunk.

"I used my credit card." He replied, "You can pay me back by doing laundry for a month."

"Done." Brittany said, "Thanks, Kurt. I really appreciate it."

"Yeah, yeah. Come on, grab this stuff out of the car before your new pet eats the house." He said and Brittany rolled her eyes, grabbing as many bags as she could from the backseat while Penelope and Kurt grabbed all the bags from the trunk. They walked all ten bags of steaks into the house and all five bags of cat shampoo and conditioner.

"Hey, Kurt? Get this; Britt thinks Canine is a human." Penelope said and Brittany rolled her eyes as she began to unpack all the steaks.

"What? Brittany, that's ridiculous." Kurt said, lifting two bags of the shampoo and conditioner and frowning at the blonde.

"Just, take those to the bathroom and I'll show you the information on it. It really seems legit." She said, crumpling up the first grocery bag and tossing it in the trash.

The three of them unpacked all the groceries before Brittany checked on Canine and saw he was still fast asleep under the covers on the spare mattress. She left her bedroom door slightly ajar and then walked back to the living room. She sat back down in her recliner and picked up her phone and laptop. She tucked her phone back in the cup holder and opened her laptop, going to the bookmarked site and handing the laptop to Kurt who began to read while Penelope turned on the TV and went to their DVR, scrolling through all the stuff they'd TiVoed and clicking on the newest episode of Grey's Anatomy.

Kurt scrolled through the site with a frown on his face as he read every word twice before looking at who wrote it and raising his eyebrows, "It's completely legit." He said and Brittany smiled, "It was written by Dr. Richard Baynham."

"Who?" Brittany and Penelope asked in unison.

"Dr. Richard Baynham." Kurt repeated, "He's made findings on all these spirit animals and he has proof that they exist." He said, turning the laptop toward Brittany and showing her a picture of a man shifting into a lion.

"Holy crap. How did I not see that when I first looked at this site?" She asked, looking closer and smiling before sticking her tongue out at Penelope who rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"That picture is photo shopped." She said with a shake of her head, eyes trained on the TV, "And I'm getting your paycheck."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Brittany said, shaking her head, "Canine's a person. And I'm gonna prove it. So you just keep watching Grey's and look forward to doing the dishes on my nights for a month."

-TRHRTW-

"Okay, Canine. Let's get you cleaned up, huh?" Brittany said as she and Canine walked out of her bedroom towards the bathroom, "Thank goodness we have such a big tub. My dad built this house and he put this bath in for my mom because she wanted her boobs and knees to be covered at the same time." She told Canine as she put her hand in the water that rested in the tub and smiled, "The water's perfect; nice and warm. It's summer but it's still pretty chilly out at night so I made the bath water warm for you even though you have fur. Your fur is pretty thin so I figured you might be a bit cold too."

Canine looked her in the eyes and she saw that smiling shine again before patting the side of the tub and watching him step closer to it, bringing his front paws onto the ledge and sliding them into the bath. He then brought his right back leg up and into the bath, using it as leverage to get his left leg in without splashing all the water out of the bath. He sat down and then lay on his stomach, letting the water embrace him as Brittany scratched his back and looked at her nails, noticing the dirt underneath them.

"Okay, let's scrub you up." She said and Canine sat back up again, watching as she squirted a whole bottle of the cat shampoo onto his back and then began to rub it into his fur with a shower poof that Kurt had bought for him, "Do you like the color blue?" She asked, scrubbing the shampoo into the fur on his back with the blue shower poof, "I love the color blue. But I also like all the other colors. I don't really have a favorite color because that's not really fair to the other colors." She told him as she scrubbed him, watching all the dirt drift into the water as she scrubbed the shampoo further and further into his fur and he stood up, letting her scrub everywhere. She then squirted a whole other bottle of shampoo onto his leg and then used another bottle on his other leg, using two other bottles for his two other legs. She then scrubbed some of the shampoo into his tail and smiled at the dark fur at the tip, "You're really beautiful, you know." She told him and he purred, staring down into the water at the dirt now surrounding him, "And I like how your fur is darker than most lions' fur. It make you seem really mysterious and super mesmerizing." He purred again as she scrubbed his legs and then squirted a whole other bottle of shampoo onto the poof before scrubbing his stomach, "I'm gonna wash your mane too and get it all nice and smooth and shiny." She told Canine who made a joyful noise in the back of his throat earning a smile from the blonde, "Are you part of a pride?" She asked and Canine looked back at her with what she swore was a nod, "You're the King, huh?" Another nod and she smiled, "I get to room with royalty. That's pretty cool." He purred and then looked straight ahead of him as Brittany grabbed the water jug from the kitchen already filled with warm water and rinsed all the shampoo off of him, "All right, now conditioner and then we'll do your mane and your face."

Brittany continued to bathe Canine and laughed uncontrollably when he purred and jumped up and down as she scrubbed his mane. She washed him everywhere and used three quarters of the shampoo Kurt had bought before pulling the plug in the bath and watching the water drain out of it. She then told Canine to wait in the tub while she grabbed her hairdryer to dry him off. She grabbed her hairdryer, asked Penelope to borrow hers and also borrowed Kurt's. She then plugged all three into the outlet in the bathroom and switched one on high to dry Canine's fur while switching the other on high to dry his legs. He roared happily, startling Kurt and Penelope who sat in the living room watching Grey's Anatomy, and jumped up and down in the empty tub while Brittany laughed and laughed until he was dry. She then switched off Kurt's dryer and switched on Penelope's, telling Canine to shut his eyes as she dried his face and mane. He roared again and she chuckled as she saw him smile slightly while she dried his mane and danced around in her slightly wet sweats, amusing the lion until he was completely dry all over. She then shut off the dryers, unplugged them and put them back in their respective rooms before grabbing her hair brush and patting the bathroom floor after laying down at towel for Canine's feet. He leaped out of the bath, landing on the towel, and stood still, purring loudly as she brushed his fur and his mane, making him all sleek and shiny.

"All right, Canine. You're all done, big guy." Brittany said, looking at her mane covered hairbrush and chuckling, pulling out all the hair that got stuck in it and throwing it in the trashcan next to the sink, "Lemme just dry off your paws and we can have some dinner, yeah?" He purred again and she dried off his bigger-than-her-head paws with the towel he stood on before rinsing out the bath with the shower head and then walking out of the bathroom and leading Canine to the living room, "Look Penny and Kurt; look how sleek, clean, shiny and sexy we are after our bath." She said and Penny and Kurt smiled at the sight of the beautiful lion standing next to Brittany, purring as she ran her fingers through his mane.

"Wow. He looks so different." Penny said, "Hey, gorgeous boy; you look stunning."

Canine purred and rubbed his head against Brittany's neck, purring again as she chuckled at the tickle his mane made. She wrapped her arm around his shoulders and pecked his cheek, "You are the prettiest lion in town now." She told him and he yawned again, "Tired, huh? Okay; let's have some nice, delicious steaks and then get into bed, yeah?"

Canine nodded slightly and she smiled, moving to the kitchen while he watched her with his eyes and then made his way back to her room to wait for her to bring him his dinner. She used the same, now clean, Tupperware as she had before and put in six steaks, bringing them to her room and putting them down next to the empty water Tupperware, "All right, buddy; eat up. I'm gonna get you more water and then I'm gonna take a shower and we can go to bed." She said, stroking his mane again and smiling, "You're so soft now." She told him as she headed towards the door with the empty Tupperware and moved to the kitchen while Canine ate his steaks. She filled up the Tupperware with fresh water after rinsing it and then stopped in the living room, "I'm gonna take a shower and go to bed, you guys. I'll take Canine outside before we go to sleep." She informed her friends who smiled tiredly at her and nodded, "And thank you, by the way. For letting him stay and for helping out with food and shampoo and all that. I really do appreciate it."

"No problem, Britt." Kurt said and Penny nodded, saluting Brittany as she smiled and moved back to her room with the full Tupperware and put it back down in its place on the shag carpet without spilling a drop while Canine ate.

She moved to the bathroom after patting his back and took a shower, washing her hair and scrubbing underneath her fingernails before washing her entire body and climbing out of the shower. She dried herself off and made her way back to her room to get dressed and dry her hair. Canine, having now finished his dinner and had some water, watched her get dressed as he lay on his bed and she looked at him softly after putting on her shirt.

"Come on, big guy. Let's go outside so you can do your business before bed." She said, moving to the door after drying her hair and smiling as he followed her. She stood by the back door as Canine moved far away from her behind a bush and did what he needed to do before coming back inside and letting her shut the door behind them, waiting for her before leading her to her bedroom, "I just wanna check your bruises before we go to sleep, okay?" She said, "Just to make sure they're not too bad." He nodded slightly and stood still, letting Brittany check his bruises before watching her smile brightly and kiss his forehead, "Most of them were just dirt from the forest. You're all good, buddy. You just have a small cut on your back right leg but it looks like it's healing by itself so you're gonna be fine." She told him, stroking his face and smiling when he bent his head and rested it on her shoulder, "All right; bed time."

The two of them climbed into their respective beds after Brittany shut the door and Brittany smiled at Canine as he made his own way under the covers, resting his huge head on the pillows and staring up at her. She inhaled a deep breath and let it out in a happy sigh as he shut his eyes and began to fall asleep while she cuddled under the covers of her own queen-sized bed and shut off her bedside lamp.

"Good night, beautiful." She whispered into the dark room and smiled when she heard a loud purr from the lion before shutting her eyes and going to sleep.

-TRHRTW-

Brittany woke up the next morning to see Canine curled up next to her with his chin rested atop her head. She smiled widely and wrapped her arm around him, pecking his chest and giggling when he purred and moved his head back to look at her. His huge face and big brown eyes peered into hers and she grinned as he pressed his nose to her forehead in the form of a kiss.

"Good morning, beautiful." She said happily as she sat up and looked at him as he rested on his stomach – which, funnily enough, made him her height when she was sitting on the same surface as he was. He pawed her upper thigh and she snickered, "Hungry?" He purred and raised his head at the sound, "Come on, let's go get some breakfast."

The two of them – now inseparable after less than a day of knowing each other – made their way out of Brittany's room together and moved towards the kitchen, "Morning, Britt." Kurt said as she walked out of the hallway, "And Canine. How'd you two sleep?"

"We slept good, huh buddy?" Brittany said with a smile as she turned at the counter and walked into the kitchen while Canine sat at the entrance and licked his nose, "Oh! Canine, can you go grab your food bowl?" She asked and he stood, moving to her bedroom to grab his food bowl. She smiled at Kurt from the kitchen and he chuckled.

"If only Penny could've seen that." He said and Brittany snickered with an agreeing nod, "There's no way he's a regular lion; that big guy is a human."

"And he could be a girl too." Brittany said, "Because he's the King of his pride and the women with penises who are the King of their pride are bigger in lion form than the male lions who are King of their pride. And Canine's gigantic."

"That he is." Kurt said with a nod as he read the newspaper, "Or she."

Canine came trotting back to the kitchen with his empty food bowl in his mouth and Brittany smiled, taking it from him and kissing his forehead, "Thanks, beautiful." She said, putting the Tupperware on the counter and opening the fridge, "How many do you want? Five or six?" She asked and he looked at her, "Five?" He blinked, "Six it is." She said, pulling out six wrapped up steaks and unwrapping them all, putting them in the Tupperware and throwing away the wrapping. She then made herself some cereal and grabbed her bowl and his, moving the six feet to the dining room table and putting his bowl down next to the back door as she sat at the table and began to eat her cereal while Canine ate his steaks, "Penny still asleep?" She asked and Kurt nodded from the living room.

"Yep. She got to bed at like four a.m. as usual." He told her and she nodded as she spooned some cereal into her mouth and chewed, glancing at Canine who was enjoying his steaks, "Do you have work today?"

"Yeah." Brittany replied and Canine raised his head, looking at her over his shoulder and frowning. She smiled and shook her head at him, "Don't worry, buddy. Penelope will take good care of you. I'll only be gone for five hours. And I'm not leaving for another two. Just relax and eat your food and then we can play."

Canine licked his nose and then continued to eat his food while Brittany chuckled, patted his butt and then continued to eat her breakfast, "You think Penny will be okay watching him today?" Kurt asked, turning his head toward the dining table and sniffing. Brittany shrugged and spooned some more cereal into her mouth.

"She's gonna have to be okay. I have work, you have work and she's unemployed." She said, "It's not like I can get Canine a babysitter, he's a grown-ass lion. He could probably take care of himself but he needs someone to feed him at lunchtime. And Penny's gonna have to be that someone."

"Why don't you call Louis to help her out?" Kurt suggested, "And Puck. Just in case Canine goes nuts on Penny. They're strong so they could probably hold him off long enough for her to get away."

"Kurt, Canine is a good lion." Brittany said after Canine growled in anger at Kurt's words, "He won't hurt anyone. Especially not my best friends." Kurt sighed and nodded, acknowledging that she was right and that he trusted her, "But I will call Louis and Puck to come by today and help Penny look for a damn job since she won't do it herself. And Louis can finally fix that damn plank in the back porch. I don't want Canine stepping on it, falling in and hurting himself."

"Good call." Kurt said with a nod, closing the newspaper and folding it up, putting it on the coffee table and standing, "Okay, I'm off. I'll see you later."

"All righty. Bye Kurt." Brittany said and then looked at Canine, "Say bye to Kurt, beautiful."

Canine licked his nose, purred and lay down, having finished his food. Kurt chuckled and lifted his satchel onto his shoulder, "Bye you two. Tell Penny I said goodbye before you leave." He said and Brittany gave him a thumbs-up as she chewed on some cereal. Kurt left and Brittany drank the remaining milk in her bowl, looking at Canine and smiling when he made what sounded like a laugh.

"What?" She asked and then squinted down at her lips, "Oh. Milk mustache." She said with a chuckle, wiping it off and licking her lips, "You think that's funny, huh?" Canine roared happily and she chuckled at the volume of it, "All right. I'm gonna write a schedule for Penny and then I'm gonna get dressed for work _and then_ we can go play outside for a bit, okay?" Canine roared again and Brittany laughed out loud, "Okay. You can look around while I make the schedule."

Brittany then moved to the study where there were three desks – one for her, Penny and Kurt – and grabbed a sheet of paper and a pen from her desk. She then sat down and began to make a schedule for Penny on what to do with Canine while she was at work.

 **Canine's Daily Schedule**

 **(He's already had breakfast and his morning play time)**

 **10a.m. – Take him for a twenty minute walk in the forest**

 **10:20a.m. – Wash the dirt off his paws and dry them off**

 **12a.m. – Give him five raw steaks in the empty Tupperware by the back door and refill his water bowl**

 **12:30a.m. – Play with him outside for a bit; throw a ball around or just let him relax in the sun just outside the house**

Canine walked into the study looking for Brittany and roared when he saw her sitting behind her desk. She looked up at him and smiled as he walked around her desk and licked her cheek, happy to have found her.

"Oh, my God! Does your pet ever stop roaring? Jesus!" Penelope groaned and Brittany rolled her eyes as she walked into the study and folded her arms across her chest, "Seriously, dude, you don't know how loud you are. Brittany, could you shut him up?"

Canine growled lowly and Brittany hushed him before replying, "He's just happy to see me, that's all." She said, "I have work and Kurt's already left so you're looking after him with Louis and Puck for the five hours that I'm at work today. I've made you a schedule and you have to stick to it because otherwise he'll get confused and think you don't like him."

Penelope groaned and held her hand out for the schedule which Brittany happily handed over and then she stood from her desk and moved to her desk with Canine following, both of them walking past Penelope and Canine patting her foot on his way out in apology for growling at her. Brittany grabbed her phone from her nightstand and opened one of her chats.

 **TO Louis B: Could you come over to our place in like an hour to help Penny look for a job?**

She then opened another ongoing chat and typed out another text.

 **TO Puck: Could you come over here and help Penny find a job today? Be here in an hour or less 'cause I have work.**

Canine lay down on his bed while Brittany shut her bedroom door and began to get ready for work while her phone pinged twice. She checked her two new texts and then locked her phone, going back to getting dressed.

 **FROM Puck: On my way.**

 **FROM Louis B: Yeppers. On my way. Should I bring anything? Never mind, I'll bring some coke.**

"Okay, beautiful. My two other friends are coming over today to help Penny find a job and maybe they can play outside with you for a bit too." Brittany said and Canine roared again earning a chuckle from Brittany and a groan from Penny who was walking back into her room to get dressed. Brittany chuckled as quietly as she could while looking at Canine who made another laughing sound and rested his head on his front paws as he watched her get dressed, "You like what you see?" She asked teasingly and Canine's eyes widened as he raised his head, looking embarrassed. She chuckled and shook her head, "I'm kidding." He relaxed his head in its prior position and licked his nose again, "You're too cute."

-TRHRTW-

Louis and Puck arrived almost thirty minutes after Brittany sent them texts and they both knocked on the door at the same time, almost as if they were competing to be the first to knock on the door. They knocked and knocked, Puck holding a six-pack of beer and Louis holding a bottle of coke, until Penny answered the door with a glare.

"You can stop knocking, assholes." She said bluntly and they smiled, walking past her and into the house while she closed the door, "Don't freak out when you look out the backdoor." She instructed, as she walked past them and into the kitchen where she looked out the window at Brittany and Canine relaxing in the sun.

Puck pulled the backdoor open and stepped out to greet Brittany before shrieking and jumping back, falling into Louis who groaned and pushed him forward, "Stop, loser." He said before looking at Brittany and letting his eyes widen just as Penny stepped up next to him, "Uh, why's Brittany cuddling a huge-ass-larger-than-normal lion?"

"He's her pet." Penny replied, arms crossed over her chest as she watched Brittany stroke her fingers through Canine's mane, "She found him on the street yesterday, brought him home, fed him, bathed him and made a bed for him. And now he's attached to her completely. They're inseparable. And _we_ are looking after him while she's at work today."

"What?! No!" Puck exclaimed.

"Cool!" Louis exclaimed at the same time, moving out of the house towards Brittany and Canine, "Hey, Little Miss Lion Whisperer." He greeted and she smiled, looking up at him as Canine stood and moved around her to stand in front of him, "Shit, this is so cool. He's huge. His head ends at my chest."

"I know." Brittany said with a large smile, standing and ruffling Canine's mane, "I named him Canine 'cause his teeth are gigantic but he probably has a given name too." She told him and he nodded, "You can touch him, you know. He won't hurt you."

Louis reached his free hand out and tangled his finger's in Canine's mane. The lion didn't make any sounds of approval or of disapproval but instead stared at Louis and roared. Louis' hand snapped back and he looked at Brittany with wide eyes, "I don't think he likes me." He said.

"No, he likes you. He was just roaring 'cause I washed his mane last night and he wants it to stay all soft and shiny." Brittany said, patting Canine's sides and smiling, "Puck! Come say hi to Canine."

Puck shook his head frantically from the back porch and Louis rolled his eyes, "Fucking pussy, get over here. He's friendly." He said and Canine made his laughing sound again earning a chuckle from Brittany, "Did he just laugh?" Louis asked and Brittany nodded.

"He thinks you're funny." She told him, "Puckerman, come say hi to Canine or I'll get him to drink all your beer!"

Puck sighed and looked at Penny, handing her his beer and slowly – cautiously – approaching Brittany, Louis and Canine, stopping next to Louis and smiling awkwardly at the lion who looked up at Brittany and laughed again. Louis and Brittany chuckled, "Hi, Canine." Puck said nervously and Canine patted his foot in greeting causing him to gasp and chuckle, "Whoa. His paws are the size of my head." Brittany nodded, "Can I touch him?"

"Yeah. But don't touch his mane; he wants it to stay soft and shiny 'cause I washed it last night." Brittany said and Puck nodded, slowly inching closer and carefully touching the lion's back, smiling as he stroked it earning a purr.

"Whoa!" He exclaimed happily, "Fuck, your new pet is cool."

Brittany nodded and scratched behind Canine's ear before inhaling a deep breath and sighing, "All right, I gotta get going now, beautiful." She told Canine who looked deeply into her eyes, leaped up and rested his front paws on her shoulders, inching forward and hugging her. She chuckled happily as his bushy, soft mane brushed her face and wrapped her arms around him, "I love you. And I'll see you in five hours." She told him before he pressed his nose to her cheek and pushed himself off of her.

Brittany then said goodbye, told Penny to stick to the schedule again, and left in her truck for work. She recalled telling Canine she loved him and how he kissed her cheek with his nose and smiled as she drove to the restaurant she worked at. She did love Canine. But she wasn't sure Canine really was a _he_. And, while she loved him… or her, she wasn't sure how she should feel about falling in love with a lion that may or may not have been able to shift into a human. But it was all confirmed the very next day.


	2. Back To The Zoo

Brittany arrived home from work and put her car keys in the bowl by the door, smiling when she saw Puck, Louis, Penny and Canine in the living room watching TV. Canine raised his head and roared happily at the sight of Brittany earning a chuckle as he jogged over to her and leaped up onto her, hugging her like he did before she left and pressing his nose all over her face. She laughed and laughed as the three people in the living room chuckled at the sight of the two of them.

"All right; Lion Whisperer's home now so I gotta get going." Louis said, standing from the couch and stretching his back out while Puck stood too.

"We found a job for Penny over here and she sent in her résumé." He said and Brittany smiled as Canine continued to press his nose to her face.

"Great." She chuckled and then gave Canine a large squeeze earning a purr followed by a happy roar, "All right, buddy. Snack time."

Canine pushed himself off of her and trotted to the kitchen, sitting down and waiting for Brittany who gave Puck and Louis a high-five and told them goodbye before making her way to the kitchen while the boys left, saying goodbye to Canine who roared a goodbye to them, startling Penny who sat on the couch, watching TV.

"Was he good today?" Brittany asked, taking four steaks out of the fridge and grabbing Canine's bowl from next to the back door.

"He was, actually. We did everything on the schedule and he had a great time in the woods, too." Penny replied, "He went gallivanting through them like a maniac and his mane looked awesome when he was running. Then Louis and Puck played ball with him and he popped the ball with his teeth before we all sat in the sun and he took a short nap."

"How fun." Brittany said happily as she prepared Canine's snack and put it down for him, picking up his water bowl from the back door where Penny had moved it and rinsed it out, refilling it and putting it next to his food which he was happily eating, "When you're done eating I want you to come to my room with me, okay, beautiful? I just wanna speak to you about something."

Canine looked at her, licked his nose and nodded before going back to eating. Brittany got into her sweats while Canine ate and then grabbed a bottle of aloe juice from the fridge, unscrewing the cap and drinking half the bottle before Canine lapped up some of his water and licked his nose again before trotting to her bedroom with her following. She shut the door behind her, put her juice on the nightstand and sat on her bed. Canine came up to her and sat down right in front of her, looking at her with his beautiful brown eyes and his soft mane blowing to the side slightly with the wind coming through the window.

"All right," Brittany started and Canine blinked, "If you aren't a normal lion and are really a spirit animal then I want you to shift to your human form right here, right now. I am making you a promise that I won't freak out or overreact. I feel a real connection with you and it's not friendly… it's romantic and I don't wanna be accused of bestiality… so, please. Just let me know that I have no reason to be freaking out about the fact that I kinda love you."

Canine tilted his huge head to the side before standing and moving back to his bed, getting under the comforter and disappearing from sight. Brittany frowned, confused, and watched as his size changed completely under the comforter and a dark, raven head popped out on the other side before the most beautiful, tan woman Brittany had ever seen stood and wrapped the comforter around her naked body. Brittany's eyes widened, she gasped and then smiled widely, covering her mouth with her hand as the woman smiled nervously and blinked her dark brown eyes.

"Hi, Brittany." She said and Brittany chuckled at the sound of her raspy, beautiful voice, "I'm Santana."

"Oh, my God." Brittany laughed out and buried her hands in her hair as she stood and looked Santana over, "I was right; you are a human. And you're a girl."

"Yep." Santana said with a nod, "A girl with a dick... a naked girl with a dick… I, uh, I lost my clothes when I shifted back at the zoo to break out. I had to shift urgently so… my clothes tore."

"This is the most incredible thing I have _ever_ seen." Brittany said with a large smile as she moved over to Santana and lifted her hand, running it through the woman's silky, raven hair and sighing happily, "Am I your mate? Is that why I feel such a strong connection to you?"

Santana nodded as Brittany cupped her face with both of her soft, pale hands and studied her face, "Yeah." She replied, "Thank you for everything you've done for me, by the way. And I'm sorry if I scared you the other day by popping up in front of your car. I saw you from the woods and knew you were my mate so I had to get your attention."

"Don't worry about it." Brittany brushed it off and stepped closer, "Wow… You are _so_ beautiful."

Santana smiled bashfully and connected their eyes, "I need clothes." She said softly and Brittany smiled, brushing the pads of her thumbs across the apples of Santana's perfect cheeks.

"Right. Uh, you shift back into Canine form and I'll go out and get you a whole wardrobe of clothes. And then, when I get back, you can get changed and shift in front of Penny to show her that I was right and she was wrong and she has to do the dishes on my nights for a whole month." She said excitedly and Santana laughed earning a deep blush and a smile from Brittany, "You can keep your clothes from ripping if you're just shifting normally, right?"

"I can, yeah." Santana said with a nod and tilted her head to the side, "Are you maybe freaking out a little on the inside right now?"

"No, not at all." Brittany said honestly, "I'm just… really happy that I'm not someone who falls in love with animals." Santana laughed again and Brittany smiled widely, wrapping her arms around the brunette's neck and hugging her tightly, "Thank you for popping up in front of my car."

"You're welcome." Santana said with a smile as she hugged the woman back, the comforter pressed tightly against her between them.

"Okay. I'm gonna go get you some clothes and then you can change and shift and then stick it to Penny. Because I was right." Brittany said, pulling out of the hug as Santana chuckled.

"You got it." She said, stepping back and shifting back into her lion, purring up at Brittany and licking her cheek. Brittany smiled and leaned her head down, pressing a soft kiss to Santana's forehead again.

"I'll be back in about an hour, okay?" She said and Santana nodded her head, laying down and closing her eyes. Brittany inhaled a deep breath and smiled on her exhale, completely and utterly overwhelmed as she left her room and grabbed her car keys, "Going to the store. Be back later."

"'Kay." Penny said, waving over her shoulder as she watched TV.

Brittany went to the closest shopping center and went to her favorite store, grabbing a basket and getting as many clothes as she could that she thought would fit Santana; some sweats, some comfy men's t-shirts to sleep in and some women's t-shirts and button-ups, some boxer-briefs, just briefs, just boxers, a few sports bras made to fit petite women, baggy women's jeans, women's skinny jeans and one pack of something she found in the men's department called compression shorts. She also got a few sundresses, a pair of bug-eye sunglasses that she knew Santana would look good in, a leather jacket, a couple hoodies and one pair of converse sneakers as well as a pair of running sneakers and socks. She went to the register and watched the man put it all through before taking out her card for her savings account and handing it to him. He swiped it, she put in her pin as he bagged all the clothes and then he handed her the bags, her receipt and her card. She smiled, gave him a happy high-five and raced out of the store to get back home and spend as much time as she could with Santana as soon as possible.

She walked through the front door with her seven bags of clothes and put her keys down, watching Penny frown at her as she walked past toward her room, "Going to my room, see you in a minute." She said as she walked down the hall and opened her bedroom door. She kicked it shut and put the bags on her bed, leaping onto Santana's make-shift bed and cuddling the lion as she roared and made laughing sounds while Brittany kissed her all over her legs, paws, stomach and face, "I got you clothes. I want you to try them all on to make sure they fit." She said, pushing herself to her feet and grabbing the comforter, draping it over Santana and watching the lion shift into her human form, smiling up at her with a giggle.

"You're excited." She observed and Brittany nodded, grabbing the bags of clothes and emptying them out next to Santana on the mattress, "Whoa, Brittany. That's too much."

"What? No, it's not. All of these clothes will look super good on you. And next time you can come with me to the store and pick out whatever you want when I get my paycheck." Brittany said, arranging the clothes into categories; shirts, pants, underwear, jackets, shoes, bras, dresses, socks and sunglasses, "Okay, try them all on and then we'll go into the living room and you can shift in front of Penny. And then we can maybe go out for dinner."

Santana smiled at Brittany and leaned in slowly, pressing her lips to Brittany's in a soft peck, "Sounds good." She whispered, "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Brittany said before Santana stood, letting the comforter fall to the mattress and watching Brittany's eyes widen at the sight of her naked body. She tried on all the clothes; all of the bras and underwear fit her as well as the baggy jeans, the sweats, the men's t-shirts, the compression shorts, the sundresses, the jackets and hoodies as well as the sneakers. The only things that didn't fit her were the women's skinny jeans because, in Brittany's excitement, the blonde got kids skinny jeans. Brittany smiled all the while Santana was trying on her new clothes and stared at the woman in absolute awe of her beauty.

Santana then changed out of the last thing she tried on, leaving on the boxer-briefs she was wearing and pulling on a pair of her baggy women's jeans and a t-shirt as well as a button-up. She then pulled on a pair of socks, her new converse sneakers and gave Brittany a wide smile, "You know," She said softly, "I've only known you for two days but I have never loved someone as much as I love you." And then she shifted into her lion while Brittany's eyes welled up with tears at Santana's confession as the brunette walked towards the door on all four of her strong, muscular, lion legs and waited for Brittany to open it. The blonde blinked her tears out and wiped them away before sniffling and moving to the door, cupping Santana's huge lion face and pressing a long, lingering kiss to her forehead. She then opened the door and walked out with Santana following.

"Penny?" Brittany said, gaining Penelope's attention and smiling, "I have something to show you." She said before looking at Santana and smiling brightly, "Canine?" And, at the mention of her nickname, Santana shifted into human form and gave Penelope a smile and a small wave while the green-eyed blonde gasped and pushed herself over the arm of the couch in fright.

"Holy fucking shit!" Penelope shrieked, startled and Santana smiled brightly at her.

"Hi, Penny." She said, moving towards Penelope and holding out her hand, "I'm Santana. It's nice to meet you in person."

Penelope, eyes wide in shock, held out her hand and shook Santana's dumbly, "Uh… holy crap?" She questioned and then looked at Brittany over Santana's shoulder.

"I know it's a little startling but you'll get used to it." Santana said politely and Penelope nodded, eyes now trained on Santana as she studied the woman.

"You're pretty hot." She commented and Brittany's eyes widened in jealousy.

"Back off, Gerber. She's mine."

Santana smiled brightly at Brittany over her shoulder and tucked her hands in her pockets before looking back at Penelope and sniffing, "Apparently you were wrong." She said and Penelope rolled her eyes.

"Fuck you, Pierce. I'm not doing the dishes on your nights." She said and Santana's lion growled through her throat, startling Penny.

"Don't talk to her that way." Santana warned, eyebrow raised as Brittany smiled and stuck her tongue out at Penny who nodded at the both of them and then put her hands up in surrender.

"Okay. All right, I'm sorry." She apologized and Santana nodded, moving back over to Brittany and wrapping her strong arm around the blonde's waist, "So," Penny cleared her throat, "Are you two, like, a couple now?"

"Well, we're mates." Santana said, "But we literally met like an hour ago in person so I think that may be a bit fast, don't you Britt?"

"No." Brittany said and wrapped her arms happily around Santana's neck, pecking her forehead with a smile, "I love you so… that's that."

Santana chuckled and nodded, "All right." She said and Brittany smiled even brighter, kissing all over the brunette's face as Penny chuckled and sat back down.

"You love each other?" She asked, turning her body towards the new couple with a raised eyebrow, "That's not possible; it's been two days."

"Oh, it's completely possible." Santana said in a firm tone, "When someone is mated to a spirit animal they fall in love when they meet that spirit animal. Fact. Also, the spirit animal knows who their mate is when they see that person. Which is why I'm here."

Penny frowned and then nodded, understanding, "Okay… All right, I think I get it." She said, "So, when you say _mates_ you mean soul mates?"

"Yeah. Exactly. Except the bond is much stronger." Santana told her and she nodded.

"That's actually pretty cool." She said, "So, if you guys have kids you'll call them cubs? And they'll be able to shift into lions and shit?"

Santana chuckled and nodded, "Yep." She confirmed and Penny smiled.

"Aw," She cooed, "Brittany! Your babies are gonna be little lion cubs; how cute is that?!"

Brittany smiled, leaned towards Santana and pressed a lingering kiss to her cheek, "You wanna head out?" She asked and Santana nodded, turning her body towards Brittany's and leaning in, kissing her chin and sniffing.

"You wanna go in your sweats?" She asked and Brittany chuckled, shaking her head bashfully before scratching her head and clearing her throat.

"I'm gonna go get dressed." She said, "I'll be back in a second."

Santana smiled and watched her move to her bedroom, pushing the door open and disappearing inside before she moved to the couch and sat down next to Penny who was still looking at her with shock in her eyes. She sniffed and threw her one leg over the other, leaning back into the couch as Penny stared at her. She then stared ahead at the TV as it played an episode of Grey's Anatomy and cleared her throat, "What?" She asked, looking at Penny who widened her green eyes and licked her lips.

"That spirit animal thing that Brittany read to me is actually legit." She said, shaking her head before laughing in shock, "I mean, it's legit. That Dr. Richard Baynham is properly legit."

"Dr. Richard Baynham is a part of the five families of lion spirit animals." Santana said, looking back at the TV, "He's the father of one of my pride members."

"Your pride members?" Penny asked and Santana nodded, "Where are they now?"

"Stuck at the zoo." Santana replied, "I broke out but they shot my pride with tranquilizer darts while I ran. And when I saw the first of the four of them go down, I promised them all I'd be back for them when the zoo was closed so no one could shoot them with stupid darts."

"Shit." Penny said and frowned sadly, "You know, they can stay here with us. You said there's four of them, right?"

"Yeah, three girls and a guy." Santana said with a nod.

"These two couches are pull-outs and Britt's recliner is really comfortable too." Penny said, "How 'bout we go get them tonight when Kurt gets home from work?"

Santana smiled in surprise and nodded, "Yeah, I'd like that. Thank you." She said and Penny nodded just as Brittany came out of her room and shut the door, "Uh, when we get there; don't start looking for a third female lion because the third female lion is like me."

"Girl with a dick?" Penny asked as Brittany walked through to the living room with her purse slung over her shoulder.

"Yeah." Santana chuckled, standing up when she heard Brittany's footsteps, "Yeah, girl with a dick."

"Who's a girl with a dick?" Brittany asked, going through her wallet and nodding before putting it in her purse.

"Uh, one of my four pride members." Santana replied, "Three girls and a guy but one of the girls looks like a male in lion form just like I do." She explained and Brittany smiled, "Penny suggested we go back to the zoo tonight and break them out."

"That's a great idea. They can sleep on the pull-out couches. And my recliner is also really comfy." Brittany said as Santana moved over to her and pecked her cheek.

"You look beautiful." She said with a smile and Brittany smiled widely at her, pecking her cheek and chuckling against it when Penny made a sound of disgust.

"You're just jealous, Penny." She teased and Penny nodded bluntly.

"You're right about that." She said and Brittany and Santana chuckled, "Hey, Canine? I mean, Santana."

"Yeah?" Santana said, linking hers and Brittany's fingers and looking at Penny.

"What are your pride members' names?" Penny asked and Santana sniffed.

"Uh, Quinn Fabray, Blaine Anderson, Brooke Aguillon and Riley Baynham." She replied, "She's the one with a penis."

"Baynham?" Brittany asked, "As in Dr. Richard Baynham?"

"Yeah, he's her dad." Santana replied with a nod, "He's the one that wrote that article you read online about spirit animals."

"How did you know about that?" Brittany asked as she led Santana to the door.

"Well, Penny told me but I also heard you reading the article when I was asleep in your room." Santana said and Brittany frowned in confusion, "Spirit animals have heightened senses."

"Shit, you're cool." Penny said and Santana smiled bashfully.

"Okay, well, San and I are gonna go to dinner and you can stay here and wash the dishes." Brittany said, squeezing Santana's hand while Penny rolled her eyes.

"It's four p.m. grandma, enjoy your stupid early dinner." She said, huffing and getting off the couch, moving to the kitchen to start the dishes while Santana and Brittany chuckled on their way out of the house.

"Do you mind if I drive?" Santana asked and Brittany widened her eyes.

"You drive?"

"I do, yeah." Santana replied as Brittany handed her the keys, "I got my license at sixteen and then I got my own car but that was ruined when Riley got drunk and crashed it. And then six months later we were in the zoo getting shot with tranquilizer darts every time we tried to escape. We got shot so many times that I became immune to the darts but the others… well, they weren't shot as many times as I was. Because I'm the biggest out of all of us therefore the strongest and more likely to escape."

"Which you did." Brittany said with a proud smile as Santana unlocked the passenger door and opened it for her. She smiled and cupped Santana's cheeks, leaning in and capturing the woman's full lips in a kiss. Santana's eyes widened in surprise and she pulled Brittany into her, kissing back with as much passion as she had while the blonde licked her upper lip and slipped her tongue in softly. Santana inhaled deeply and exhaled in a sigh against Brittany's lips, "And I'm really happy you escaped. Because if you hadn't I wouldn't be crazy in love right now… and I wouldn't have just kissed who I think may be the best kisser in the world, Jesus; how do you kiss like that?"

Santana laughed and shook her head, "No idea." She said, "In my opinion, you're the better kisser out of the two of us."

"I beg to differ." Brittany said with a smile and Santana shook her head, "Don't shake your head at me; I always win arguments."

"Not anymore." Santana said, throwing the blonde a wink before pulling away from her and pecking her cheek, moving around the car to the driver's side and climbing in as Brittany shut the passenger door behind her. The both buckled themselves in and Santana started the car, "This truck has a good engine." She told Brittany who smiled and leaned her head back against the headrest.

"How long were you in the zoo?" She asked and Santana cleared her throat as she put the car in reverse and pulled back, out of the dirt driveway.

"Seven years." Santana said, "Since we were seventeen."

"We're the same age." Brittany said randomly and Santana chuckled, pulling back and onto the road, putting the truck in drive and taking off in direction of her favorite restaurant, "Do teenage lions have manes as big as yours is now?"

"No. I had a little bit of a mane but it wasn't as big as it is now. It was awkward and weird."

"I don't believe that. I'm sure you looked adorable." Brittany said and Santana smiled at her, "I'm sorry you were in the stupid, mean ole zoo for so long."

"It wasn't your fault." Santana said with a shrug, "Shit happens. And by _shit_ I mean animal control." Brittany chuckled and continued to stare at her mate, amazed that two days before she was fighting with her boyfriend because he cheated on her for the third time and now she was the mate of a spirit animal and madly in love; more in love than she'd ever been or ever thought she could be.

"Shit! Sam!" Brittany exclaimed, pulling her phone out of her purse and opening her chat with Sam.

"Is that the boyfriend?" Santana asked casually and Brittany snapped her head up at the woman.

"Uh… yeah." She said and Santana nodded as she made a left turn.

"You two fighting?" She asked and Brittany sighed.

"I should've broken things off with him already. He's cheated on me three times." She replied, typing out a text and sniffing as she sent it, "There. We're done."

"You broke up with him over a text?"

"He slept with my cousin."

"Go you." Santana said earning a chuckle from Brittany.

 **TO Sam: I've been thinking and I can't be with you anymore. I've met someone else and I don't want to have to continue dealing with your shit. We're over. Delete my number from your phone and don't speak to me again, please.**

-TRHRTW-

After Santana and Brittany went to an early dinner, they drove back to the house slowly, talking and laughing the entire way back with Brittany sneaking kisses at red lights and stop streets. They'd had the most wonderful time at Santana's favorite restaurant, _Donatello's_ , and spoke non-stop from four to eight.

As soon as they got back to the house, they climbed out of Brittany's truck and held hands all the way inside where Kurt and Penny were sitting in the living room, wearing comfortable clothes, talking about Kurt's ex who had called and texted all of that day asking to get back together.

"Hey, ladies." Brittany said, shutting the door, "Ready to head to the zoo?"

"Yeah." Penny said as Kurt frowned at Santana who was looking at him. She smiled and waved and he frowned even harder.

"Uh, Britt?" He asked, "Who's this?" Santana sighed and shifted into her lion form making Kurt shriek which turned into a laugh, "Oh, my God! You were right, Britt!" He exclaimed as Santana shifted back and held out her hand to him. He shook it and smiled, "So nice to meet you."

"You too. I'm Santana." She said and Penny sniffed, rolling her eyes at Kurt as she shrugged on her jacket which was hanging on the coat rack by the door.

"All right, let's head out." Brittany said, pinching Santana's butt earning a squeal and a laugh.

"Why are we going to the zoo?" Kurt asked, putting his own coat on.

"We're gonna break Santana's pride out."

-TRHRTW-

 **The Zoo**

Santana pulled up outside the zoo with Brittany in the passenger seat of her truck and Penny and Kurt in the canopy. She shut off the engine and sniffed, looking at the broken door she crashed through to get out and nodding, "All right; Penny, you get in the driver's seat and keep the car running and Britt, Kurt and I will go in and get the pride. When we're all in the canopy and Kurt's in the front seat, you slam your foot on the gas and get out of here as soon as possible, okay?"

"Got it." Penny said, giving her a thumbs-up through the window that lead to the canopy before she and Kurt climbed out and left it open. She walked around to the driver's side where Santana left the car running and she climbed in, "Good luck!" She called through the open passenger door to the three of them who were approaching the now-fixed door. Santana shifted and leapt right through it before shifting back and opening it for Kurt and Brittany.

They were in the zoo and on their way to the lion enclosure, passing all the other animals who paid hardly any notice to the three adults as they passed, finally arriving at the lion enclosure where Santana told Kurt and Brittany to stand back before she shifted into her lion, let out a loud roar and ran at the fence, leaping into the air and bringing it down just as four lions came running out of a make-shift den – two females and two males. Santana roared at them happily and turned on her heel, galloping toward Brittany and practically forcing the blonde onto her back as an alarm started to go off. One of the male lions lifted Kurt onto his back and the two of them held onto their lions as tightly as possible while the five beasts raced toward the now broken again door, zooming out of it and towards the truck where Penny sat at attention. The five lions shifted, all clothed and jumped into the canopy while Kurt climbed into the passenger seat and shut the door. Brittany shut the canopy and Penny slammed on the gas, driving them far away from the zoo and toward their house.

Santana smiled and got tears in her eyes at the sight of her four pride members, leaning in and hugging them all at the same time with a happy chuckle, "Oh, thank God." She sighed, "You guys are all okay."

"Thank God you're okay, Chief. We thought we'd lost you. You've been gone for over a week." The boy with the massively curly black hair said as they pulled out of the hug and Santana leaped back at the sight of his hair.

"Jesus!" She exclaimed, "Blaine, what the hell is going on with your hair?"

"My gel wore off when the lion tamer gave me a bath." He said, rolling his eyes as the girl with a blonde bob chuckled at him.

"Well, we'll get you more gel." Santana said, leaning back into Brittany who wrapped her arms around the girl and kissed her cheek.

"And who's this?" The girl who'd laughed at Blaine asked and Santana smiled widely.

"This is my mate, Brittany. Britt, this is Quinn Fabray," She said, pointing at the girl who asked the question, "That's Blaine Anderson," The boy with the crazy curls, "That's Brooke Aguillon," The girl with the cherry red hair and green eyes, "And that's Riley Baynham." The girl with the short brunette comb-over that had blonde highlights and greyish eyes.

They all gave Brittany a small wave and big smiles, "Welcome to the Pride." Riley said with a smile as she leaned back against the inside wall of the canopy and sighed, "Whose truck is this?"

"Brittany's." Santana replied, "Oh! The two people in the front are Penny and Kurt."

"I think Kurt may be my mate." Blaine whispered and Santana's eyebrows raised to her hairline in surprise.

"You think? Did you feel a certain… shock when you saw him?" She asked and he nodded, "Then he's your mate. Congrats. Two down, three to go."

"Thank you for coming to get us out of there, Brittany." Brooke said with a grateful smile and Brittany nodded, smiling back, "And of course Santana, Kurt and Penny. Two of whom I haven't met."

"You're very welcome." Brittany said and kissed the top of Santana's head, inhaling the scent of her hair and smiling, "That cat shampoo smells good."

"Cat shampoo?" Riley asked and Santana nodded.

"Britt gave me a bath when I was still in my lion form. It was the best bath I've ever had." She said, "She scrubbed me all over – and I was seriously run-down and exhausted and dirty when she found me – and then she dried me off with three hairdryers, dancing around by the bath as she did it. It was awesome."

"How long ago did you find Santana, Brittany?" Blaine asked.

"Two days ago." The blonde replied and rested her cheek against Santana's head, "I named her Canine before I knew she was a human and now the nickname's kinda stuck."

"Canine?" Riley asked, "That's so boss."

"Yeah, I came up with it when she yawned and I saw how big her teeth were." Brittany told the pride and they chuckled.

"I'm guessing you weren't even scared when you saw her?" Brooke asked and Brittany shook her head.

"No, I wasn't. I mean, I'd pulled over to the side of the road to answer a text and looked up and there she was; this great, big lion who was starved, dehydrated, bruised and dirty. And I just thought she was beautiful. So I put her in here, took her home and fed her, bathed her and made her a bed in my room where she slept last night before she shifted in front of me today and now… we're together." She explained in one breath earning a chuckle from Santana.

"Take a breath, babe." She said through her chuckles before lifting Brittany's hand and kissing it.

"That's pretty noble, what you did." Riley said with a grin and Brittany smiled, squeezing Santana tighter, "No one would do that for a larger-than-normal lion unless they were spiritually connected to that lion… or if they were crazy."

Brittany snickered and nodded, "I felt a connection as soon as I saw her. Granted, I thought she was a boy until I read your dad's article on spirit animals online." She said and Riley sniffed.

"Yeah, my dad's a pretty smart guy. He's been looking for us for seven years." She said, fiddling with her fingers, "But as soon as I get a job and a phone I can call him and let him know where we are."

"Or you could just use our landline." Brittany said, "We have a phone book too. He's a doctor; he should be in it."

"Well, thank you." Riley said with a smile and Brittany nodded.

"It's no problem at all. You guys are gonna be staying with us until you get places of your own." She said and Riley's eyes widened.

"We are?" She asked and Santana nodded.

"Yep. I mean, you'll be sleeping on the pull-out couches in the living room… maybe not Blaine." She winked, "But it's gonna be home for now."

"Wow." Brooke said, "I just figured we'd be going back to the woods."

"Nope." Brittany said, "No way. My mate and her pride are not going anywhere that I'm not if I can help it. And, besides, we live right behind the woods so you guys can run and stretch as much as you want."

"Well," Quinn said, "I don't think any of us can thank you enough."

"So, why don't we just skip it?" Brittany said with a smile and Quinn smiled back before looking into her lap and sniffing. Brittany knocked on the window and Kurt slid it open, "Why did you close the damn window, Penny?"

"Because I thought people were gonna be naked when they shifted so I didn't wanna look through the rearview mirror and see someone's junk." Penny replied and Riley chuckled, leaning forward and peering through the window at Penny, smiling wider and sticking her hand through it.

"No one's naked." She said, "I'm Riley Baynham."

Penny glanced at her hand before shaking it and holding onto the steering wheel again, "Penelope Gerber; good to meet you."

"You too." Riley said, leaning back against the inner wall of the canopy and sniffing, "Three down, two to go."

-TRHRTW-

Once the eight adults were back at the house, they all climbed out of Brittany's truck and the five lions stretched their limbs. Penny locked the truck and handed the keys back to Brittany before retying her hair into a messy bun and halting her hands when she saw Riley stretching her back. The girl was the tallest out of all five lions and was most definitely the butchest; she wore men's jeans, a man's button-up shirt and, sticking out of her jeans, Calvin Klein briefs. Her breasts were so small she didn't need a bra and she had a man's figure. Her jaw was incredibly defined and she most definitely didn't have a feminine face with the exception of facial hair. Her skin looked soft and her grey eyes shone in the moonlight as she lifted her arms above her head causing her shirt to ride up, showing off her incredibly defined abdominal muscles.

"Sweet baby Jesus." Penny breathed out and Santana smiled at Brittany, pulling her lips into her mouth and widening her eyes while Brittany chuckled silently, swinging her car keys around her index finger and clearing her throat.

"You guys must be hungry. Steak and mashed potatoes for dinner?" She suggested and the five lions nodded eagerly. Brittany chuckled at Santana's eager expression and threw her arms around the girl's shoulders, pecking her lips over and over until she earned a laugh, "All right; Kurt Hummel and Penelope Gerber, this is Quinn Fabray, Brooke Aguillon, Blaine Anderson and Riley Baynham. You guys, this is Penny and Kurt."

"Nice to meet you." The four lions said in unison while Blaine and Riley stared, besotted, at Kurt and Penny.

"You too." Penny said while Kurt stared dumbly at Blaine, smiling a love-struck smile at the sight of the boy's hair. Penny made eye contact with Riley and one side of her lips curled up as she subtly bit her lower lip while Riley grinned at her and ran a hand through her dirty hair.

"I need to wash my hair." She said, breaking the eye contact when the sexual tension became too much, "Do you guys mind if I take a shower?"

"Not at all. You guys can all shower while San and I cook and Penny and Kurt will set up the couches for you." Brittany said and Penny nodded dumbly when Riley looked at her again and bounced on her toes, "Blaine, Kurt has gel you can use for your hair. Kurt's a hair stylist so he can make it look really nice if you want."

"I'd like that." Blaine said, "Thank you, Kurt."

Kurt nodded with a lovey smile and giggled, looking down at his feet. Santana snorted and hoisted Brittany over her shoulder, carrying her inside with Brooke and Quinn following before Penny and Kurt turned and followed them as well with Riley and Blaine close behind them.

Brittany and Santana started dinner while Kurt showed the four lions the bathroom and where everything was as Penny grabbed two double bed sheets, four pillows and two comforters. She took them to the living room just as Kurt came through to the living room with Quinn, Riley and Blaine. The three lions helped him set the table for dinner with one of them staring at him and the other staring at the woman making the pull-out couches into beds while the last rolled her eyes at the other two and spoke to Santana while she cooked with Brittany.

"Those zookeepers are douche-dicks." Quinn said as she put down placemats with Blaine behind her putting down the utensils, "They forced Blaine to have a bath when he was playing in the dirt and you know how much Blaine hates water. And when he tried to get away they stuck him with another damn dart."

"What?" Brittany asked, shocked, "Are they allowed to do that?"

"Apparently so." Quinn said with a nod, putting down the last placemat and grabbing glasses from the kitchen where Brittany had put them on the counter, "And Brooke almost got put down because a bunch of stupid teenagers were throwing rocks over the fence so she snapped at them and one of them peed himself. I overheard the lion tamer arguing with the zookeeper saying she was too aggressive and needed to be put down while the zookeeper said absolutely not because she was one of the favorites."

"Okay, now surely _that's_ not allowed." Brittany said, "You can't put down a wild animal just because they were behaving within their nature."

"I know. Except we're only wild when we need to be." Quinn said as she put wine glasses down in front of every placemat with Riley in front of her putting down plates while Kurt put down regular glasses next to the wine glasses.

"Oh! I almost forgot," Brittany started, "I have a trunk of my parent's old clothes in my room that you guys can all wear until we buy you new clothes."

"Oh. Thank you." Quinn said with a smile as she leaned against the counter after finishing her bit of setting the table, "But since we've been in lion form for so long these clothes we're wearing are good for another day or two."

"Don't they get stinky?" Brittany asked.

"Not if we shift every day we wear them. They clean themselves when we shift." Santana replied and Brittany's mouth fell open in shock.

"Okay, do you guys get any cooler?" She asked as Kurt and Blaine made conversation while Riley leaned on the back of the couch with her hands and flirted with Penny who was flirting back. Santana and Quinn chuckled as Santana mashed the potatoes with her strong arms while Brittany made the steaks as well as frying some vegetables, "What were they feeding you guys at the zoo?" She asked.

"Uh… the meat of the animals that died." Quinn replied and Brittany cringed in disgust, "Yeah, it was really gross. Riley never ate it. She's been starving for weeks. They'd occasionally give us meat from a cow and she'd devour it but that's the only meat she eats. They last gave us steaks, uh… six weeks ago."

"She hasn't eaten in six weeks?" Brittany asked, shocked and Quinn shook her head, "Riley! Come over here and taste this."

Riley sniffed and smiled at Penny before moving to the kitchen and widening her eyes when a spoonful of mashed potato was forced into her mouth. She chewed it and then licked her lips after she swallowed, "That's really good." She said and Brittany smiled, throwing her arms around Riley's neck and the woman patted her back with a chuckle, giving her a squeeze, "I kinda stink, Brittany. Sorry about that."

Brittany pulled out of the hug and shook her head, "I don't mind." She said, "You're family now and family doesn't care when their family smells like sweat."

Riley chuckled and looked at Santana, "I love her." She said, patting Santana's shoulder as she moved back to Penny.

"Hey, do you guys grow hair on your human bodies when you're in lion form?" Brittany asked as she went back to cooking the steaks.

"No." Quinn replied with a shake of her head, "I haven't had hair on my body in seven years. Blaine has, of course, but that's because he had hair on his body when we shifted."

"Must be nice." Brittany said and Santana snickered with Quinn.

"I know. I got a bikini wax and it lasted for seven years." Quinn said, "It's lovely. My vag is still completely bare."

"Whoa!" Riley exclaimed from the living room where she was still flirting with Penny, "I can hear you, Q. Could you please _not_ talk about your vagina when we're in the same room?"

"Yeah, yeah." Quinn brushed it off and Riley shook her head with a smile before going back to talking to Penny. Brooke came walking into the living room with her towel-dried hair draped over her shoulder and gave Quinn a smile, "Okay, I'll be back. Will the hot water run out?"

"Nope." Brittany said, "Shower as long as you want."

Quinn nodded and made her way to the bathroom while Brooke sat down at the counter in the kitchen where Quinn had been and watched Santana and Brittany interact while they cooked. Her cherry red hair – clearly not natural but gorgeous on her – was shining in the light from the living room and her soft, slightly tanned skin was clean and relaxed after her shower. Her green eyes, darker than Penny's, shone happily as she watched the new couple cook while laughing and teasing each other with almost-kisses.

"It smells really good." Santana said, "Brooklyn Heights, taste this. Ry said it's good but I've added a little more to it."

She spooned some of the mashed potatoes out and gave Brooke the spoon while Brittany giggled, "You call her _Brooklyn Heights_?" She asked and Brooke nodded along with Santana as she ate the potatoes.

"That's really good, San." She said, handing Santana the spoon back and licking her lips, "And the steaks smell amazing, Brittany."

"Thanks!" Brittany said happily, "It's my mom's special spicing recipe."

"Where are your parents now?" Brooke asked curiously and Brittany sniffed.

"They died when I was nineteen." She replied and Brooke's eyes widened.

"I'm sorry." She said, "I didn't mean to bring them up."

"No, that's okay. It was three years ago and they're in a better place." Brittany said, "My mom died of cancer and my dad died the next week in a car accident."

"Lemme guess; some idiot on their cellphone not watching the road?" Santana asked and Brittany nodded.

"Yeah. Him." She said and Santana's eyes widened.

"Fuck, I'm sorry."

"No, that's fine. No one else was hurt. He crashed into an empty truck and his car flew three hundred meters. He flew out the window because he wasn't wearing his seatbelt and his window was open… his window was _always_ open." Brittany said and then turned the steaks in the pan over, "But it was his own fault. I'm not saying I don't miss him because of course I miss him but he's in a better place and not in any pain. He would've been brain dead his whole life if I hadn't opted to turn off the machines."

" _You_ had to make that decision?" Brooke asked, shocked.

"Yeah. I was over eighteen and he had me as his emergency contact." Brittany replied, "I only wish my parents could've met you guys. Especially you, San. They would've loved you. Especially mom; her favorite animal was the lion."

Santana and Brooke smiled as Brittany grinned while speaking about her mother, "Quinn says _sorry about your parents_." Santana said and Brittany frowned.

"What? How did you hear that?"

"Heightened senses." Santana and Brooke said at the same time before Blaine and Riley spoke.

"Sorry about your ma and pa, Britt." Riley said.

"Yeah, sorry about your parents." Blaine said, "That must've been horrible."

"It was but Kurt and Penny helped me through it. As well as Louis and Puck. We all went to high school together." Brittany said and Santana smiled.

"I like Louis and Puck; they're not afraid to let me leap onto them." She said, "Okay, maybe Puck is but Louis' not."

"You met them?" Brooke asked.

"Yeah. Britt went to work today and Louis and Puck came over to help Penny look after me when I was in lion form. They have no idea I'm really a human." Santana said, "When are they coming over again, babe?"

"Uh… maybe tomorrow? It's Saturday tomorrow; they usually come over on Saturdays to use our Jacuzzi." Brittany replied Santana chuckled after a while.

"Quinn says _I'm never leaving this house; I love Jacuzzis_." She told the blonde who chuckled and shrugged.

"That's cool. Stay as long as you want." She said.

"Quinn says _I'm sleeping in the Jacuzzi._ " Brooke said with a snicker and Santana snorted as she finished the potatoes and turned the stove plate down to a lower temperature, "Do Louis and Puck live together too?"

"No. They are across-the-hall neighbors, though." Brittany said, "They live in a small apartment building not too far from here. And they're really cute and both totally straight."

Brooke chuckled and shook her head, "I wasn't asking if they're gay… but thanks for the hint." She said and Brittany chuckled, shaking her head at herself and putting two more of the finished steaks in the large, china dish she was putting them on.

"I'm making five steaks for each of you, is that good?" She asked Santana who nodded.

"Yeah, that's perfect, hon." She said, turning to the fridge and peering inside, "Mind if I have a water?"

"Go ahead. You guys can all help yourselves to whatever." Brittany said and Santana smiled, patting her butt before grabbing five waters and handing one to Brooke, tossing one to Riley and one to Blaine and putting one on the counter next to Brooke for Quinn.

Quinn, five seconds later, came walking out of the hall with damp hair and a smile on her face, "The temperature in that shower is great." She said, sitting down next to Brooke and opening her water bottle, "Blaine, you're up." She said and Blaine nodded, saying something to Kurt who nodded with a giddy smile and watched him walk away to the bathroom, eyes casting downward towards his ass.

"Kurt, I know you love him but staring at his ass isn't necessarily the way to tell him." Santana whispered and Kurt's face went beet red as he looked at the table and continued straightening out the dinnerware while Brittany chuckled and poured the already fried vegetables into a large bowl before pouring more raw vegetables into the hot pan. Quinn and Brooke smiled and mumbled under their breath to Brittany.

"He's so cute." Brooke said.

"He's just adorable." Quinn said and Brittany nodded in agreement.

"He can be a bitch sometimes." She whispered, making sure Kurt couldn't hear her, earning a laugh from the two women, "All right; eighteen steaks down, ten to go. Kurt, come grab this dish with the steaks in it." She said, grabbing an identical china dish to the one currently holding the steaks and putting it on the counter next to the stove as Kurt grabbed the full dish and took it to the table. He put it in the middle while Santana dished the mashed potatoes into a larger-than-life bowl and put the pot in the sink. She handed the bowl to Kurt who put it next to the dish already on the table and shut off the stove plate she'd used. She then opened her water bottle and chugged it all down in less than ten seconds, "Good Lord." Brittany said with wide eyes as she mixed the cooking vegetables around the pan, "Thirsty much, Canine?"

Santana chuckled and tossed the bottle in the trashcan, "In my lion form, that whole bottle was one lap with my tongue." She told her mate who looked at her with wide eyes and then smiled.

"That is _so_ hot." She said and Santana, Quinn and Brooke laughed as Brittany put four more steaks in the pan with the next six unwrapped and ready for her next to the stove, "I hear singing."

"That's Blaine." Brooke said and Brittany nodded, impressed.

"He's good." She commented and Quinn smiled as Santana frantically shook her head at her.

"You should hear your girlfriend sing." She said and then stuck her tongue out at Santana as the woman rolled her eyes and sighed before smiling at her mate and licking her lips.

"You can sing?" Brittany asked and Santana inhaled a deep breath with a shrug.

"Yeah, I guess." She said, "Everybody can sing; it's just a point of whether or not you sound good."

"And you sound good?" Brittany asked and Santana nodded.

"I sound all right." She said humbly and Quinn scoffed.

"Try amazing." Brooke said and Santana shook her head, looking down at the stove bashfully, "Santana has the sexiest singing voice you will _ever_ hear in your life."

"Is that so?" Brittany asked, smiling at her girlfriend who was blushing, "Aw, baby, you're blushing."

"No, I'm not; ethnic people don't blush." Santana said earning laughs from everyone in the room – as well as Blaine who laughed in the middle of his song.

"Maybe not ethnic people as a whole but you do." Brittany teased and Santana chuckled, bringing her mate into her arms and kissing her.

"I love you." She mumbled with a smile earning a blush of her own from Brittany, "Now look who's blushing."

"You guys are so cute." Brooke cooed and Santana threw her a thankful wink before letting her mate get back to cooking.

"You know, I—Oh." She said, raising her eyebrows as she looked ahead of her through the living room window where she saw Riley and Penny full-on making out on the front porch, "Well, that happened faster than Britt and I did."

"What happened faster?" Quinn asked, turning in her chair along with Brooke and smiling when she saw what Santana was looking at, "Sweet Lord."

"Whoa…" Brooke mumbled and Brittany laughed.

"Penny's gonna get _laid_." She chuckled out and Santana snickered next to her, watching her put the four steaks in the dish, loading three more into the pan and spicing them.

Blaine came walking out of the hall and looked around for Riley, "Outside snogging Penny." Santana told him and his eyes widened before he nodded and moved to the living room window, knocking on it.

"Shower's yours, Ry." He said and then moved back to Kurt with his hair getting curlier by the second, "Kurt, would you mind doing my hair for me now?"

"Sure. Absolutely. Yes, of course." Kurt stuttered out and led Blaine to his bedroom while Riley and Penny walked back inside, holding hands behind Riley's back. Penny wiped the corner of her mouth and cleared her throat as Riley let go of her hand and walked to the bathroom silently while she sat down in Brittany's recliner and avoided eye contact with all the people in the kitchen.

"So I guess Quinn and Brooke each have a couch to themselves tonight, huh?" Brittany teased and Penny gave her a pointed glare.

"Ha, ha. Ha." She said sarcastically. Brittany snickered and continued to cook the three steaks in the pan, "I'll talk to you about that later."

"Later as in after you bang Riley's brains ou—"

"Later!" Penny huffed and Brittany continued to laugh.

A few minutes passed and Blaine and Kurt came into the dining room, Kurt grabbing the now full bowl of cooked vegetables and putting it on the table while Brittany put the now three cooked steaks in the dish before loading the last three into the pan and spicing them. Brooke and Quinn conversed, Blaine and Kurt flirted, Penny stared at the wall with Riley on her mind and Brittany and Santana talked about Santana's family while Riley showered.

Another few minutes went by and Riley came walking into the living room with clean, wet hair and a smile on her face when the smell of the food on the dining room table wafted into her nose. The eight people sat at the table and dished themselves some food while arguing over Riley's eating habits and Penny's feisty attitude, Santana's loving heart yet snarky personality and Brittany's kind, bubbly nature.

The pride was almost complete and all were safe and incredibly happy.


	3. Cub's Cocoon

Later that night, as Santana and Brittany climbed into bed after chatting with the pride until one a.m., they cuddled close to one another and snickered under their breath at the sounds coming from Penny's room where she and Riley were making love. Blaine and Kurt had sat together on the front porch swing and eventually kissed after an hour and were now fast asleep in Kurt's room while Quinn and Brooke were snoring on the pull-out couches.

During dinner, Brittany received a text from Puck and Louis asking if they were still good to come over tomorrow to which she replied they could and told them goodnight. And now, as Santana and Brittany faced each other in Brittany's bed having unmade the spare bed on the floor and tucked the mattress back under Brittany's bed, Santana leaned in and captured Brittany's lips in a kiss, rolling herself on top of the woman slowly and gently, slipping her tongue into a waiting mouth and sliding it against Brittany's.

"Mm," Brittany hummed into the kiss before Santana pulled back and looked her in the eyes, "I don't think I can make love to you for the first time with Penny and Riley going at it across the hall."

Santana smiled in understanding and nodded, rolling off of Brittany and resting her elbow on the pillow, leaning her head in her hand, "All right. Well, we can just go to sleep and… try again tomorrow night… in the back of your truck."

Brittany smiled widely and rolled herself closer to Santana, cuddling into the woman and pecking her collar bone, "In the canopy." She said, "We can bring the spare comforter and some pillows in there and my laptop. And we can watch movies and then make love for hours and hours with the stars and moon shining in through the windows."

Santana smiled and kissed the top of Brittany's head, "Sounds perfect." She said, nuzzling her nose in Brittany's watermelon-scented hair and wrapping her strong arms around the woman. Brittany was clad in a large, baggy, Queen t-shirt and a pair of Santana's new, purple boxers while the brunette remained in her boxer-briefs and put on one of the men's t-shirts Brittany got her, "The pride loves you." She whispered as she felt Brittany's hot breath against her collar bone, smiling when she felt the blonde close her eyes.

"I love them. They already feel like family." Brittany muttered, "And I'm super happy for Penny and Kurt. Kurt's ex was a real dick… and so were all his other exes and Blaine's the best guy ever. And Penny…. Whew, well, Penny's never been in love in her life. And I can see the color in her eyes has changed since she laid eyes on Riley. Plus she hasn't had sex in months."

"It's nice." Santana said, "But she's gotta be careful with Riley. The girl's amazing but she's guarded. Although they _are_ mates so she should let her guard down a little around us now because of Penny. Which is great because Riley's an amazing girl… and she hasn't had the best luck with women in the past… they all just slept with her because of her dick."

"It's that big?" Brittany asked and Santana snorted out a chuckle.

"I have no idea. But some girls like the idea of sleeping with a woman who has a penis." She said, "But judging by the sounds coming out of Penny's bedroom… she has a big dick."

Brittany laughed and buried her head in Santana's chest, "Gross." She giggled, "I didn't want that image in my head."

"Sorry, babe." Santana chuckled. Their laughter died down and Brittany swallowed as she sniffed and rested her head on Santana's chest and cuddled closer to her.

"When you guys have sex with people who aren't your mate can you have babies with the person you slept with?"

"No." Santana replied in a whisper as she closed her eyes and sighed, "We can only have cubs with our mates."

"Thank God." Brittany said earning a chuckle as she smiled cheekily, eyes closing, "How many people have you had sex with?"

"Uh… seven." Santana replied and Brittany nodded against her chest, "You?"

"I don't wanna say." The blonde replied and Santana chuckled.

"Just tell me." She said, "I'll bet Riley's slept with more."

Brittany inhaled deeply and sighed, clearing her throat and replying, "Fourteen." She said and Santana smiled, "But most of them were one-night stands."

"Riley's slept with over ninety women."

"Holy fuck." Brittany said with a shocked laugh and Santana nodded, holding her mate closer and pressing another lingering kiss to the top of her head.

"Do you want kids?" Santana asked after a momentary silence and Brittany sighed with a happy smile.

"I do." She replied, "I want lots 'cause I never had siblings. Do you?"

"Lion spirit animals are built to want and have kids." Santana replied, "If you stick with me we'll probably have more than five… and that's just two pregnancies."

"Whoa… I mean, I read in Dr. Baynham's article that it's never more than one unless it's adoption – which is rare – or surrogacy. But more than five with just two pregnancies? I have no idea how I'll get my body back after that." Brittany said and Santana smiled softly.

"Human mothers who mate with spirit animal fathers get their figures back in a month after giving birth." She informed the woman, "No loose skin or saggy boobs or any of that. And the stretch marks go away by themselves. All you'll have to do is work to get your abs back."

Brittany gasped excitedly and raised her head, eyes now open, "Marry me." She said and Santana chuckled, eyes open and a large smile on her face, "How easily could I fall pregnant if we make love?"

"Uh… well, without a condom you're sure to get pregnant." Santana said, "But only one type of condom works for me and doesn't break or snap or hurt."

"Which one?"

"Durex." Santana replied, "That extra sensitivity one."

"I love those!" Brittany squealed, reaching into the now open drawer of her nightstand and pulling out a box of Durex, Extra Sensitivity condoms, showing them to Santana with a large smile. Santana smiled and leaned up, pressing a kiss to Brittany's cheek as the blonde put the condoms back in their place and shut the drawer, "What do you wanna be when you grow up?" She asked, resting her arms on Santana's chest and letting her chin rest on her arms.

"I wanna build furniture and houses and stuff." Santana replied as she licked her lips, "What about you?"

"I told you, loser. I wanna be a vet." Brittany said and Santana chuckled, eyes wide and eyebrows raised.

" _Loser_?" She asked and Brittany pulled her lips into her mouth.

"I'm sorry, baby. I didn't mean it." She said and Santana continued to laugh as she leaned up and kissed Brittany's forehead. The blonde smiled widely and managed to steal a kiss from the brunette's lips before letting her head hover above the woman's as the room across the hall went silent. Brittany leaned down and joined their lips, rolling herself on top of Santana and rolling her hips softly into the woman earning a soft hum against her lips. Santana rolled them over and rested between Brittany's legs while the blonde continued to roll her hips up and against Santana's hardening member.

The couple proceeded to make love softly, slowly and quietly, climaxing at the same time and falling asleep in each other's arms.

* * *

 **August**

It'd been three weeks since the pride arrived at Brittany's house and they were now all on their way to meet Riley's parents; Riley had called them with the landline at Brittany's after finding her father's number in the phonebook and they'd agreed to meet at a very specific location at the shopping center close by – a store called _Cub's Cocoon_ which was, incidentally, the baby store her parents owned which had a door at the back which led to the area for lion cubs.

They hopped out of Penny's, Kurt's and Brittany's car and made their way in behind Riley and Penny who were holding hands – now an official couple along with Blaine and Kurt – and talking softly to each other as they led the others to the store. Louis and Puck had made real connections with Brooke and Quinn and the boys were both slowly working their way to a relationship with the two women.

"All right," Riley said to the six people behind her and Penny, "This is it."

They all looked up at the sign that said _Cub's Cocoon_ in bright gold letters and made their way inside with Brittany walking in front of Santana, the woman's arms slung over her shoulders as she held tan hands and licked her lips, "What does Riley's mom do for a living?" She asked and Santana cleared her throat as they made their way to the counter at the back where a dark haired woman was fiddling with receipts.

"She's an author and an OB/GYN." She replied and Brittany nodded, "But she writes baby and parenting books for spirit lions only."

"Got it." Brittany said, "Is that her?"

"Ma!" Riley exclaimed, gaining the woman's attention as she let go of Penny's hand and raced over to the counter while the woman behind it fanned her face with a large smile and tears in her eyes. Riley hoisted the woman into her arms and spun her around with a large, teary smile on her face. Santana and the rest of the pride smiled happily and moved over to greet Dr. Alice Baynham as soon as Riley had put her down and kissed her forehead, "We missed you so much." Riley said as the woman wiped her tears and cupped her daughter's cheeks.

"I missed you all too." She said, "Where were you the past seven years?"

"The zoo. Animal control caught us when we were in lion form for our seventeenth year and took us to the zoo. San finally broke out and came back for us." Riley explained to her mother as the woman hugged the rest of the pride and sniffled, cupping all of their faces and pecking their foreheads.

"Good Lord." Alice said with a shake of her head as she wrapped her arms around her tall daughter and gave her a squeeze, "Oh, we missed you! Now, introduce me to these three gorgeous people before we go to the back to see your father."

"Oh! Right, uh… ma, this is Penelope Gerber; my mate." Riley said and Penny moved over to Mrs. or Dr. Baynham and gave her a hug.

"It's really great to meet you, Dr. Baynham." She said and Alice smiled in surprise as she hugged the girl back.

"You too, sweetheart. Thank God my Riley's not messing around with all those girls anymore. And you're by far the prettiest of them all." She said, pulling out of the hug and cupping Penny's cheeks as the girl smiled bashfully and ducked her head, "Now, now; don't be shy – something tells me you know you're stunning. Look at those eyes. My grandbabies are gonna be gorgeous."

"Thank you, Dr. Baynham." Penny said and Santana smiled, wrapping her arm around Brittany and kissing the blonde's head.

"Call me mom." Alice said, "You're gonna be stuck with me for the rest of my life."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Penny said and Alice smiled brightly, wrapping her arm around Penny's shoulders and looking at Blaine who was holding Kurt's hand.

"And I'm assuming this very stylish young man is _your_ mate, Blaine?" She asked and Blaine smiled, giving Kurt's hand a squeeze and nodding.

"Yeah. This is Kurt Hummel." He said and Alice smiled before looking at Brittany after introducing herself to Kurt who smiled and gave her a shy wave.

"And you are just gorgeous." She said, smiling at Brittany who blushed and tucked her head in Santana's neck, "Oh, boy, look out; the King's found her Queen."

"It's nice to meet you, Dr. Baynham. I'm Brittany Pierce." The blonde said and Alice chuckled.

"It's fantastic to meet you all." She said, turning to Brooke and Quinn and raising her eyebrow, "And you two? Where are your mates?"

"Uh… well," Quinn said, scratching her head.

"We _have_ met them but they're not here." Brooke answered for Quinn and smiled, tucking a strand of her cherry hair behind her ear, "We're not exactly official items with our mates yet but we're getting there. The boys are a little… slow when it comes to asking a woman out."

"Aren't they all?" Alice laughed and then moved away from Penny to the entrance of the store, shutting the doors and locking them with the keys hanging around her neck. She then moved toward the back door and motioned for the pride to follow her, opening the back door and walking in with the eight other people following her in and Santana shutting the door behind them. Brittany gasped when they walked in and smiled at the sight of all the adorable lion cub stuff; furniture, sweaters for the winter, toys, what looked like huge litter boxes and parenting books, "Richard!" Alice called out and the pride heard shuffling behind the counter in the back.

"Over here, Al!" A male voice called out and Riley smiled widely – excitedly – racing over to the counter and gaining her father's attention.

"Dad!" She exclaimed in a shaky voice, tears lacing her tone and he looked up as she raced around the counter to hug him.

"Oh, my sweet girl!" He exclaimed as he pulled her into his arms and gave her a huge squeeze, tears in his eyes and a smile on his stubbly face, "Oh, you're here. You guys are safe. Thank God."

"I missed you, dad." Riley said as a tear slipped from her eye and she hugged her dad tighter, "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too, champ." Richard said and patted his daughter's back, "I missed you too."

Alice then introduced the three mates to Richard who smiled brightly when he met Penny who he told to call him _dad_ and then kissed her cheek before they all gathered around the counter and spoke about their years at the zoo while Alice pulled Santana and Brittany away from the group, saying she needed their help with something, before leading them to another door which read _Dr. Alice Baynham, OB/GYN_. She walked them in and shut it behind them before patting the table and smiling at Brittany who sat down with a frown.

"All right," Alice said as Santana frowned, arms folded and eyebrows scrunched together in confusion, "I have a sneaking suspicion that you, Ms. Pierce, are pregnant. So, I'm just gonna check you out. Everything off from the waist down while I get the ultrasound machine ready."

Brittany looked at Santana, who was smiling excitedly, with wide eyes and her mouth agape while Alice sat on her stool and rolled toward her machines after giving Brittany a paper sheet, turning her back to the women, "Everything off from the waist down, Bee." Santana repeated Alice's words as Brittany's mouth closed itself, "It's gonna be fine, Bee. It's probably nothing. Let's just check to be safe, okay?"

Brittany swallowed and nodded, "Okay." She said before nodding even firmer, "Yeah, okay. No, you're right. Gonna be fine." Brittany began to take everything off from the waist down and then frowned when her pants and shoes were off, "Do I have to take my underwear off?" She asked Alice who was grabbing the ultrasound gel.

"No, those can stay on." Alice chuckled, rolling back to the machines and humming before pulling one towards the women while Brittany lay on the table under the sheet, "All right, I'm going to do an ultrasound but if I can't see anything then I will need you to take your underwear off for a transvaginal ultrasound, does that sound okay?"

"When you say _transvaginal_ do you mean that transducer thingy goes up her—"

"—vagina. Yes." Alice said with a smile, "But it's not this one…" She said, digging around next to the machine and pulling out a longer, narrower transducer, "It's this one."

"Jesus Christ." Santana breathed out and Brittany snorted, grabbing her hand and sniffing.

"I've had one before, babe; it doesn't hurt."

"You've had a transvaginal ultrasound before?" Santana asked with a raised eyebrow and Brittany nodded with an eye roll.

"Not because of a pregnancy scare." She said, "Just to check everything out because my OB/GYN couldn't see properly with the abdominal ultrasound… but that's because he's an idiot. Even his intern could see properly with the abdominal ultrasound."

Alice chuckled when Santana growled in anger at the sound of the man and Brittany kissed the girl's hand, "Okay, let's check you out." Alice said, lifting Brittany's shirt to just under her breasts and then looking at her stomach, "It's a little swelled right here, can you see that?" She asked, pressing on Brittany's lower stomach and watching the blonde nod with scared eyes, "Don't worry, it's normal when you're pregnant with lion cubs. You start showing quite early but human mothers are still pregnant for nine months. You only start showing so early because you're most likely carrying more than one or two." She explained and Santana, now in full protection mode, nodded as she kissed Brittany's hand, "This is gonna be cold." Alice warned before squirting a lot of the gel onto Brittany's stomach and then running the transducer through it, tapping a few things on the machine and raising her glasses – which hung around her neck on beads – to her eyes. She moved the transducer around Brittany's belly and nodded, "Right there," She said, pointing at three little pips on the screen, "Triplets." She told the couple before tapping something on the machine and smiling widely when three strong heartbeats echoed through the room.

"Oh, my God." Brittany said with a large smile as tears pooled in her eyes. Santana sniffled and kissed her hand, closing her eyes and letting her tears fall down her cheeks, "We're having cubs."

Santana smiled happily and nodded, running a hand through her hair and giving Brittany's hand a squeeze as she leaned down and pressed their lips together, "It's a little soon but… this certainly speeds things up." She said as she looked back at the screen with a smile while she observed her three tiny cubs, "We've only been together three weeks." She informed Alice who nodded.

"Richard and I were together four days before I fell pregnant with Riley." She said, "We found out the next week and were married a month later."

"How far along is Brittany?" Santana asked curiously.

"Three weeks." Alice said, "I'm assuming these babies were conceived during your first time?"

"Sounds about right." Santana said with a nod before smiling widely at her mate who was staring at the screen in awe and love, "We're gonna have cubs, Bee."

"We're gonna have cubs." Brittany said with a nod, a complete and utter love-struck smile on her face, "Can we get a picture?"

"Of course." Alice said.

"Hold on; how much is it?" Santana asked and Brittany rolled her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Baynham; Santana doesn't have a job." She said, "But I do so it doesn't matter how much it is. We want a picture, San; these are our cubs."

"Baby, I can't let you pay for this, you barely—"

"How 'bout this?" Alice interrupted Santana as she printed a picture and wiped off the transducer before doing the same to Brittany's belly, "I will give Santana a job here and take the price of the picture off her first paycheck. You can build baby furniture for both stores. How's that sound?"

Santana smiled and looked at Brittany who nodded, "Sounds perfect, Al. Thank you." She said with a grateful grin. Alice nodded and took the picture out of the machine, handing it to Brittany and tucking the transducer back in its place.

"All right; you start tomorrow." Alice said, "Your due date is estimated the twenty-sixth of March but they may come a little later. I'm going to give you the four parenting books I wrote for human mothers and spirit lion fathers and I want you to read them thoroughly… _twice_. Okay? You need to know everything about everything. This is not like a normal pregnancy; it'll be weird at first and then you'll pop before you're even six months. And you'll be waddling around for the last three like a penguin."

Brittany nodded firmly and looked down at the picture, "Is there any chance of a miscarriage?" She asked.

"No." Alice said, "Never with lion cubs. You can tell whoever you want. And start getting ready for these babies because they'll be here before you know it, okay? Also, Santana, Richard and I will provide you with all the materials you need to build a house with more than ten bedrooms; each cub needs their own room so you should get building on some huge land as soon as we send the materials over, all right?"

"Yes ma'am." Santana said with a nod as Brittany smiled down at her cubs, one hand on her belly while Santana linked their fingers on her belly, "Thank you. I'll pay you back."

"Not necessary." Alice said, "If your parents were in Lima it'd be their duty to provide you with everything you needed to build your own house. So _they_ can pay me back. You don't have to worry about a thing other than getting that house built, furnished and tech-savvy in a time-space of six months."

"Tech-savvy?" Santana asked and Alice smiled.

"It's all in the fourth book." She assured the girl who nodded before she turned on her stool while Brittany handed Santana the picture and stood to put her pants and shoes back on, a bright, happy smile stuck on her face as Alice rolled the machine back to its place with the others, "I want you two to come back when you're eight weeks to check on the heartbeats and then again at eighteen weeks to determine the sexes."

"We'll be here." Santana said, taking Brittany into her arms and leaning in, pressing a soft kiss to her lips and smiling, "We're having cubs." She stated again and Brittany's smile only widened.

"We are." She said as Alice stood and moved over to the door.

"Okay, let's get you those books."

"How much are they?" Santana asked and Alice raised her eyebrow at the woman as she opened the door.

"No charge for you two. But if you lose them before your next pregnancy, you're paying for another set." She teased and Santana chuckled, linking her fingers with Brittany's and following Alice out of her exam room. Santana shut the door behind them as they continued to follow Alice straight ahead to the bookshelf while the entire pride was preoccupied talking to Richard at the register, "Okay," Alice breathed out as she got to the shelf and scanned it for her parenting books, " _Lion Fathers and Human Mothers_. The first book; it explains everything you need to know about what to expect. _Half a Year and Almost There_ , the second one which tells you everything about the last six months of the cubs' first year." She said, handing those two books to Brittany who took them and observed the covers, " _Mommy and Cubs: What to do_. Third book and very important; it tells you everything about the cubs' first six months in the world." She said, handing the book to Brittany before scanning the shelf for the fourth one, "Ah!" She said, spotting it and pulling it off the shelf, "Fourth and last book: _Lion Cubs: Furniture, Potty-Training and Cries_. Everything you need to know about their rooms, what they sleep in, what they pee and poop in and what cry means what. It also tells you everything you need to know about how tech-savvy your house needs to be. Read them all-"

"—twice." Brittany finished and took the outstretched book from Alice as the pride now paid their attention to the couple who were smiling happily at Alice, Santana looking down at the sonogram picture and Brittany looking down at the four books in her arms, "Thank you, Dr. Baynham. Very much."

"Call me Alice, Brittany." Alice said, touching Brittany's shoulder with a smile, "And you're both very welcome. Congratulations."

"Congratulations on what?!" Riley called over to them and the three of them looked her way as she wrapped her arms around Penny and raised her eyebrow at her mother and her two pride members.

Santana looked at Brittany and raised a questioning eyebrow earning a nod before she turned back to the pride and smiled widely, "We're having cubs!" She exclaimed and the seven people at the register gasped and squealed and whooped and cheered while Riley raced up to Santana and hoisted her into her arms, spinning her in a circle while the rest of the pride approached and hugged Brittany, congratulating the couple.

"We're having cubs!" Riley cheered, pumping her fist in the air as the rest of the pride attacked Santana with hugs while Riley hugged Brittany and Alice and Richard chuckled, "Congratulations, you two." Riley laughed out as she gave Brittany a squeeze and then felt her lower stomach, "Did mom give you guys a scan?"

"Yeah," Santana said, holding out the photo to Riley as the pride gathered around her and peered down at it, "We're having triplets."

Riley looked down at the picture with a smile as the rest of the pride mirrored her actions before she stuck her fist in the air again and yelled, "We're having triplets!" The pride cheered, Santana, Brittany, Richard and Alice chuckled and the happy couple embraced each other while the pride screamed in excitement over the three blossoming cubs. Santana leaned in and joined her lips with Brittany's, smiling into the kiss as the blonde held onto the books tightly with one hand and cupped a tan cheek with the other.

"Marry me, Brittany Susan Pierce." Santana whispered into Brittany's lips and the blonde's smile only widened.

"I'd love nothing more."

* * *

It'd been three weeks since Santana and Brittany found out they were expecting triplets and got engaged. In those three weeks:

Santana started working at _Cub's Cocoon_ and received the materials she needed for hers and Brittany's house. They'd picked a huge slab of land about six hundred meters away from Brittany's current house – which used to be her parents'.

Santana had bought Brittany an engagement ring and given it to her during Brittany's one month mark in her pregnancy.

Quinn and Puck had started dating and Quinn was now living with him in his apartment.

Louis and Brooke had eloped drunkenly and were married, happy and living in his apartment.

Penny and Riley were happier than ever, still living in Brittany's parents' house and Kurt and Blaine were as well. Santana and Brittany were staying in the house while Santana built a house of their own. The land was ginormous and Santana's plan was building five houses for each couple in the pride and then connecting each house to Brittany's parents' house which she'd renovate – with Brittany's permission – and turn into a Pride Room where the entire pride would spend time together. She planned to break down all the inner walls that made bedrooms and seal up the front door and back door, break down the front porch and let Brooke start a small garden outside the windows she planned on putting there. Her plans for Brittany's parents' house were huge and, with Brittany's permission, she planned on starting her renovations once their cubs were six months old.

Brittany had read through all four parenting books three times and was now on her fourth time reading the first one, _Lion Fathers and Human Mothers_.

Santana had read all the books twice and her lion had memorized every word in each of them. She'd started building the large base of their house and had jotted down every single thing she needed to put in for the cubs; sound-proofed rooms so they wouldn't wake up their siblings when they cried and intercoms acting as baby-monitors in each room of the house in order for Santana and Brittany to tap into their cubs' rooms before they go to bed and hear them when they cry in the night. She'd noted every piece of furniture they needed and planned on designing a completely new "litter box" that was built into the ground so the cubs wouldn't have to struggle to climb in once they learned to walk in lion form and could later be emptied out and used as a large Zen garden once their cubs had learned control over their lions and were potty-trained. She'd also designed a brilliantly helpful, large bassinet – made for one cub until they're two – and shown it to Alice and Richard who gave her a raise and told her to start building while she was taking breaks from building the house with the pride; the bassinet was an oval shape that could fit in the middle of a queen-sized bed and had a soft mattress build in with soft padding on the wood structure so the cub who slept in it wouldn't hurt themselves, it was also raised a meter and a half and beneath it was a cupboard in which you could keep all the necessary changing, cleaning and grooming items for that cub – it was brilliantly clever and Richard and Alice loved it. Santana had also begun building furniture for the store that they were already selling including changing tables, build-your-own cribs, rocking chairs and car seats. She just continued to bring in raises and Brittany was somewhat relieved at that information however she was starting to panic as she reread the parenting books and overwhelmed herself with everything their cubs would need and how little time they had to do it all in.

Sam, Brittany's ex-boyfriend, had shown up and been almost scared to death when the entire pride shifted and growled at him as he approached a pregnant – and showing – Brittany. Santana stood in front of her mate and roared angrily at the boy who shrieked and got in his car, driving away and never returning.

Brittany and Santana had Skyped Santana's parents – who were in Spain – and told them they were expecting triplets after they were introduced to Brittany.

Santana's parents arrived in Lima and were staying at their old house.

"Baby," Brittany called out as she approached the one quarter built house while the rest of the pride worked on it with a sweaty Santana who looked in Brittany's direction and smiled, moving up to her and wiping her forehead with her hand, "It says here that when our cubs are born they'll only be humans for twenty-four hours and then for the next five months and twenty-seven days they'll be lion cubs; I can't take care of a teeny, little lion baby. I don't even know how to take care of a teeny, little _human_ baby!"

Santana smiled and held onto Brittany's shoulders as the blonde waved _Lion Fathers and Human Mothers_ in the air in a panic, "I'm here." She said softly, "We'll be fine. I was a cub once too and I know how to take care of them, I promise. I've read the books and I am confident that we'll be perfectly all right. The house is one quarter of the way done and once it is finished, which will be in about three months, we'll furnish it and get Louis to soundproof the kids rooms. I'll hook up the intercoms and you and I can go furniture shopping and buy anything and everything you want, okay?"

"Three months… okay, three months is good. I'll be halfway through my fifth month by then so, that's good. We'll still have four months to do everything else." Brittany said, breathing deeply and slowly as she rested her hand on her belly, "Okay. It's gonna be okay."

"That's right." Santana agreed with a smile as she leaned in and pecked her fiancée's lips, "You wanna see how well the house is coming along?"

"Yeah. I really do." Brittany said, dog-earing her page in the book and shutting it, walking over to the house with Santana and smiling, "You've built the frame for upstairs." She observed, "Fuck, it looks amazing."

"It does, right?" Santana said with a wide smile as she watched some of her pride members cement the stones for the outside fireplace and stick them onto the other stones already in place while the others built the outside wall, "I'm thinking we add on a little upstairs and make a part of the roof on the third floor a pool. What do you think? Too much?"

"No, that sounds amazing." Brittany said with a nod and a smile, "And it can heat up in winter." She suggested and Santana nodded.

"That's what I was thinking too." She said and Brittany smiled, moving towards the house with Santana following close behind her. She stepped up onto the finished cement base of the house and smiled.

"How many rooms is it again?" She asked.

"Twelve." Santana replied, watching her fiancée walk around the base, stepping over the wooden frames and smiling.

"How many bedrooms are gonna be downstairs?" She asked as she stood in the large room which had chalk on the cement that read _Living Room_.

"Six. And six upstairs." Santana replied, "When we have more cubs, we can move the older ones downstairs to fill the rooms down there and then the younger cubs will be upstairs with us so we can get to them faster. Each room of the house – even the bathrooms – are going to have intercoms in them. They'll be touchscreen too; state-of-the-art."

Brittany nodded as her fiancé spoke as she walked around to every room downstairs and widened her eyes at the size of each one of the six bedrooms, "These bedrooms are huge!" She exclaimed and Santana chuckled.

"They're gonna need a lot of space when they get older and we're gonna be in this house for the rest of our lives." Santana said, "Also, I was thinking; as soon as we have all the cubs we're gonna have, the rooms that they're in at the time will be their permanent rooms. What do you think?"

"I agree." Brittany said, moving back down the wooden porch steps that Santana and the pride had already built and taking Santana's hand as she turned to face the house and sighed happily, "It's gonna be so beautiful, baby. You're so good at this." She smiled as she looked at the house and licked her lips, "Can I see the blue prints?"

"Yeah, sure." Santana said, taking Brittany's hand and leading her to the table she'd set up which held the blue prints and unrolling them, "All right, this is the one I drew up about an hour ago for the roof."

Brittany looked at the drawing and nodded; it was a large rectangle with the measurements off to the side and a circle coming off the bottom left corner that read _end of chimney_. On the right line was a circle in the middle that read _roof of breakfast nook_. And then, in the top right corner was a small rectangle that read _end of staircase to roof_ and then a smaller rectangle coming off of it that said _roof floor_. Then there was a large path way coming off the rectangle that was the end of the staircase leading to a large square with a large rectangle in the middle that read _pool_ and a smaller rectangle off to the side against the wall that said _pool pump_. The rest of the large third floor read _ROOF_ and Brittany could just see it now.

"Okay, I like that. I love where you've placed the pool." She said, "Will the floor of the roof be cement or…?"

"That's what I'm thinking but we'll color it so it's not so… ugly. But we might brick it too. And the stairs will be covered by a roof and a door." Santana said and Brittany nodded as she rolled up the third floor blue print, revealing the second floor blue print, "Okay, this is where our bedroom is as well as the cub's bathroom which you can see has two doors; one that leads into the house and another that leads into our room."

"Right. Yeah." Brittany said, looking over the plan and smiling at how beautiful it was; the same circle coming off the bottom left corner was there but now read _chimney of fireplace_ as well as the same circle coming off the right wall which still read _roof of breakfast nook_. A small rectangle coming downwards from the top left corner read _staircase to roof_ and lined along the top wall were five rooms – all the same size – labeled _Bed 7, Bed 8, Bed 9, Bed 10_ and _Bed 11_. A few centimeters in front of the large rooms was a long line moving from the right wall all the way to where _Bed 7's_ wall ended and moved downward a few inches before moving right again and ending at a rectangle that read _staircase from first floor_. On the other side of the rectangle was a line moving all the way to the left wall with a semi-circle in the middle of it that read _archway_. A few centimeters off the bottom wall and a few inches away from the wall with the arch was a long line moving all the way to the right wall with three separate rooms drawn in beneath it. The room on the left had a semi-circle in the middle of the wall which read _archway_ as well and inside the room it read _family room_ with a rectangle stretching across the bottom left corner moving inward which read _fireplace_ and was clearly linked to the outside fireplace. Next to the family room, in the middle, was a room that read _Cub and Master Bathroom_ with a square drawn in the middle which read _litter box built into floor_. And right next to the bathroom, on the right, was the biggest bedroom out of all of them that read _master bedroom_. Santana had drawn on doors to all the rooms and there was another archway on the wall across from the master and bathroom leading to the hallway where the other five bedrooms were. And between all the rooms was a large area with words in brackets in the center reading _(put couches in the middle of this area)_ , "I love it; it's big, it's spacious and it's easy to move around." Brittany said, "And I like how you've made two ways to get to this hallway here where the cubs' rooms are."

"Yeah, I really thought that one through. I mean, if they wanna come to our room they'll come through this arch here across from the family room by the stairs whereas if they wanna go to their rooms they'll turn right after coming up the stairs and then turn right again." Santana said studying the blue print before rolling it up again and showing Brittany the blue print for the first floor, "This is the busiest floor of the house." She said and spread it out as Brittany studied it with eager eyes.

Five bedrooms – all the same size as the ones on the second floor aside from the master – were lined up along three quarters of the back wall and labeled _Bed 1, Bed 3, Bed 4, Bed 5_ and _Bed 6_ while _Bed 2_ was right across the hall from _Bed 1_. Separating _Bed 2_ from the other rooms was a long hallway moving to the right and ending where _Bed 6's_ right wall ended. Right where it ended was a long line moving downward from the top and an archway in the middle of that long line as well was an archway at the end of the hallway on the lower wall of it. A perfect square rested where the archways lead and read _family hall_. There was a rectangle just below it with the bottom wall of the house acting as its back wall and a door drawn in; this room read _downstairs bathroom_. To the left of the long line moving from top to bottom in the last quarter of the first floor was that same circle coming off the right wall that read _breakfast nook_. About an inch in front of the breakfast nook was a long rectangle stopping just in front of the archway which read _carpet_. Above the carpet was the kitchen and below it was the dining room. Brittany smiled as she looked up at the unfinished outside fireplace and then looked at it on the blue print, coming off the bottom left corner and inward was a rectangle stretching across the bottom left corner, also linked to the outside fireplace, which read _fireplace_. A large, perfect square rested where the indoor fireplace was and coming into it was _Bed 2_ as well as, in the top right corner of the square, a backwards, sideways _L_ shape which read _staircase_. Where the _L_ ended was another archway and in the middle of this square it read _Living Room_. In the bottom right corner was a small rectangle which read _Coat Closet_. And coming out of the living room's archway was a long rectangle ending were the hallway to the bedrooms ran across the three quarters of the house which read _Front Hallway_. Right across from the living room's archway was another archway leading into the family hall. And on the bottom wall of the front hallway was a very thin rectangle that read _front door_. Starting at the middle of the outer wall of the living room and ending three quarters into the outer wall of the downstairs bathroom was the front porch, coming off a few inches in a rectangle with another rectangle coming off that porch, this one smaller, which read _porch steps_. And, lastly, in the top left corner of the kitchen was a door leading onto the large back porch which ended a two centimeters away from each side wall of the house. It had porch steps coming off it in the middle and Santana had drawn a large circle around the entire plan and labeled it _front and backyard._

"So, this is our house?" Brittany asked, looking at her fiancé who was furrowing her brows as she looked at the plans, "This is where we're gonna be living for the rest of our lives in the next three months?"

Santana inhaled a deep breath, rolling up the plan and smiling as she exhaled, "This is it." She said, "Do you like it?"

Brittany smiled brightly up at her fiancé and wrapped her arms around the woman, pressing a kiss to her lips as her small baby bump pressed into Santana's stomach, "I love it." She replied as she pulled away, "It's going to be _so_ fucking gorgeous." Santana smiled widely and pecked Brittany again before the blonde asked another question, "I can see that the left side wall is built with bricks but how come Louis, Brooke, Blaine and Kurt are cementing those bluish, greyish, purplish stone-rock thingies to it?"

"Because the outside of our entire house is going to look like it's made of those bluish, greyish, purplish stone-rock thingies." Santana replied and smiled at Brittany's adorable blush.

"Well, I think it looks amazing so far." She said, resting her free hand on her belly while still holding her book, "I can't wait to see the finished product."

* * *

 **November**

At Brittany's eight week check-up their triplets' heartbeats were way stronger and Alice confirmed that all three of their cubs were healthy and growing beautifully.

Santana and the pride had built the left and top walls of the first floor and had started to build the floors into the second floor. Her father, Matteo, had stepped in to help while her mother, Maribel, went through colors for the bedrooms and names for the babies with Brittany who both her parents absolutely adored. The house and Brittany's pregnancy were coming along beautifully and the blonde had a gorgeously pronounced – yet still small – baby bump while the left side wall of the house was full of the stones and the back wall was halfway there but still fully built to the frames of the second floor. Santana and Matteo had started building the right side wall with bricks and cementing it over to make it prettier from the outside and inside. And, of course, once that wall was fully built they'd start with the rocks while some of the other pride members started building the front wall of the house and so on.

Brittany and Santana were looking forward for their eighteenth week check-up to find out the sexes of their cubs and were counting down the days as they arrived at week sixteen.

"No, no." Santana said as she paced the back porch of Brittany's house with her phone to her ear as the blonde came out of the house with a hot cup of tea. Santana gave her a smile as she sat on the back porch swing and sighed, sipping her tea and licking her lips as she listened to Santana talk, "No, I need more of the stones you sent me last time." She told the building store Richard had recommended to her and nodded when the person on the other end of the phone told her the name of what she wanted, "Yes, that's the one. Yeah, I need the same amount you sent over last time." Brittany sniffed, blinking her eyes open bright and early this autumn morning, and licked her dry lips as she watched her fiancé order more materials for their house which was now halfway done. Santana had told her it'd probably take another two months instead of one more as she was in the middle of her fourth month of pregnancy and the house planned to be done in a month but it'd rained a whole lot which delayed Santana's work by two weeks, "That's perfect, yeah and then I'm gonna need the materials for the roof that I ordered two months ago." Santana said, burying her free hand in her hair and halting her pacing as she listened to the woman on the other end speak, "Yeah, send over all of it; I gave the guy the measurements for the roof when I ordered the materials so you should have it all there. I'm Santana Lopez." Brittany frowned as Santana did and watched her fiancé roll her eyes, "The account you're putting it on is _Matteo Lopez_ but I, his daughter, ordered the materials under my own name." She said and then frowned again before nodding, "Okay, sure." She said before covering the receiver with her hand and sitting down next to her fiancée, pecking her lips and smiling at her, "They're looking for my order sheet. I need those materials today or it'll all be delayed another week. And it can't be delayed anymore." She told the woman who nodded in understanding and swallowed her mouthful of tea, "Good morning, by the way."

"Morning, love." Brittany said with a sleepy smile, still clad in her pajamas as Santana removed her hand from the receiver and leaned back into the swing, continuing to speak to the woman on the other end.

"Brilliant. Can you have that all sent over here today? I need it literally as soon as possible." She said, scratching her chin and sniffing as the woman spoke. Brittany rested her hand on Santana's thigh as she finished her tea and put the mug next to her on the swing, rubbing her belly with her free hand and sighing as she looked out at the forest, "Oh, perfect. Thank God." Santana said before chuckling, "That's perfect, thank you. I'll meet you outside in an hour." She continued and Brittany gave her a thumbs-up, "Thanks. Bye."

Santana hung up and tucked her phone in the pocket of her sweat pants before resting that hand on Brittany's belly and swinging her other arm around the woman's shoulders, letting her cuddle into her, "They can get it all here today?" The blonde asked and Santana kissed the top of her head.

"Yeah. Half of it is already loaded in the truck so they'll be here in an hour." Santana said with a sigh of relief, "Are you excited for December second?"

"I am." Brittany smiled, "We're gonna find out if we're having two boys and a girl or two girls and a boy or three girls or three boys. I can't wait."

"I like the colors you and mom picked out for their rooms. All those different shades of yellow." Santana said as she rested her cheek against the top of Brittany's head and inhaled the cold, fresh air, "But we're finding out the sex anyway so if you wanna paint their rooms according to their gender then we'll do that. Either way, I'm happy."

"I mean, we could but that's kind of risky 'cause what if we have three girls and then paint all three of their rooms pink and then the next three come along and they're all boys… then we move the girls to different rooms and the boys' rooms are pink?" Brittany said, "I don't know, I think we should paint them all – all eleven – that bumblebee yellow."

"Done." Santana said, "And what color is our room gonna be?"

Brittany smiled cheekily and glanced up at her fiancé, "Scarlet." She replied, "'Cause it's warm and cozy and passionate."

"Great." Santana said with a large, loving smile, "Then we'll go pick out the paints after the materials are delivered today. How's that sound?"

"Sounds good. They all just have to be the perfect color. Are the floors of the bedrooms gonna be carpet or wood with carpets on them?"

"Wood with carpets on them. We'll pick out the carpets to match the walls of each room." Santana said, "Also, I was thinking; if we have more than one of the same sex and those two or three are identical we could get custom made clothing with the names we pick out for them on the clothes. That way we always know who's who until we can actually tell them apart… you know, for the day they're born and then their six month birthday."

"I _love_ that idea!" Brittany exclaimed excitedly and Santana chuckled with a nod, kissing the top of Brittany's head, "And they can all have, like, the numbers one, two and three on them so we remember which one came out first."

Santana snickered and nodded, "Perfect. I'll ask Alice to order those after we know the sexes and what names we want." She said, "We can also design them ourselves if you want. I mean, the ones they'll wear for their first twenty-four hours as babies before they shift for the rest of their first six months."

"I love it. Love it, love it, love it." Brittany said with a nod and chewed on her thumb nail before she felt a flutter in her belly, "Whoa!"

"What? What, what?" Santana asked, concerned.

"I felt a little kick." Brittany said, pressing Santana's hand that rested on her belly further into it where she felt the kick and laughing when she felt another, "Did you feel that?"

"No." Santana said with a frown, "I won't be able to feel them kick until week twenty, babe. How does it feel, though?"

"It feels so… weird." Brittany said and Santana frowned in concern.

"Bad weird?" She asked and Brittany shook her head.

"Wonderful weird." She breathed out with a large smile. Santana smiled back and pressed a kiss to her pink lips, licking the inside of her upper lip and pulling it into her mouth, deepening the kiss.

"Yo! The truck from that store's here with the materials." Riley said, poking her head out the back door and patting the frame, "Let's go get it unloaded and get back to building; we're off schedule as it is."

"On my way." Santana said before pressing another kiss to Brittany's lips and smiling at the woman while Riley jogged through the house and exited through the front door, "I've gotta go help out but then we can head to the store and pick out the paints and carpets for the bedrooms, yeah?"

"Yeah." Brittany said with a giddy smile, pressing one last kiss to Santana's lips and watching the brunette stand and jump off the back porch, walking around the house and disappearing from sight. Brittany sighed happily and closed her eyes as she felt tiny little kicks every other minute, smiling as she started to slowly rock the swing and hum while rubbing her belly.

Three months and two weeks ago she'd found a large lion on the side of the street and now she was engaged, pregnant with triplets and waiting for her and that lion's house to be finished just six hundred meters away from the house she grew up in. There was no way in hell that she could've been happier than she was in that moment. And it was all moving so fast but Brittany's mother always told her: _'Life's not fun if it's moving too slowly. Enjoy it.'_

* * *

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 **Now, I understand that this story is moving pretty quickly but I've planned it all out and it's meant to be moving this fast. So just sit back and enjoy it; I have a sequel** _ **and**_ **a trilogy planned out already.**

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	4. Home Sweet Home

**December**

Now eighteen weeks and lying on Alice's exam table, Brittany was halfway through her fifth month of pregnancy and the house was just about done. All that needed to be done was the plumbing, the electrical wiring, the soundproofing and the intercoms; the structure, building and the house as a whole was all done and looked gorgeous.

"All righty, let's see what we've got here." Alice said, squirting the gel onto Brittany's belly and moving the transducer through it as she tapped some things on the machine and looked at it, "Okay, now you can fully see three separate babies." She said, pointing at each little baby.

Brittany smiled widely and looked at Santana who was staring at the screen, mesmerized, "Are any of them identical?" Brittany asked as she gave Santana's hand a squeeze and looked back at the screen.

Alice nodded as she moved the transducer around again and then smiled, "They're all identical." She said and Brittany chuckled while Santana's face broke into a large smile, "You do want to know the sex of all the babies?"

"We definitely do, yeah." Santana said, combing her fingers through Brittany's hair while Alice printed them a picture and then moved the transducer to another angle and printing another picture which the machine spat out attached to the first one.

"You are having three little boys." Alice said with a large smile as she hit print on one more angle of all three boys' legs spread with a chuckle before cleaning off Brittany's belly and the transducer, putting it back in its place and taking the pictures out of the machine while Santana and Brittany kissed one another, happy tears pooling in their eyes, "Congratulations, your highness, you're gonna have three identical boys. I suggest you get custom made footed pajamas for their first twenty-four hours so you can tell them apart when they shift into their lions. Because they won't know how to control it, their clothes will stay on over the fur so you'll know who's who when taking the pajamas off."

Alice handed Santana the pictures as Brittany put her shirt back down over her belly and sniffled while Santana looked down at the last picture and laughed, "We were thinking of doing that. San said we should speak to you about ordering them when we know what we wanna call the boys." Brittany said while Santana laughed hysterically in glee at the sight of her three boys all spread-eagled on the last picture, showing off their pretty impressive boyhoods.

"Absolutely," Alice nodded, pushing the machine back while Brittany stood and raised the hem of her maternity pants over her medium sized bump, "Just come over and give me whatever designs you want on the pajamas with their names on them and whatever else and I'll get that ordered for you before they're born to put in your labor bag."

"Perfect, Alice, thank you." Brittany said and chuckled at Santana who was wiping the tears from her eyes while handing her the pictures and watching her chuckle at the sight of the last one, "They're so cute." She snickered, "The middle one has the biggest knob." She laughed and Santana nodded through more silent laughter, "But they're all huger than normal; I mean, that's not normal, is it?" She asked Alice who was chuckling to herself as she went through the couple's file and jotted something down.

"It's normal for lion cubs." She replied before standing and moving over to the couple, "Riley sent me a picture of the house; it is absolutely _stunning_. You have a real talent, King Lopez."

Santana smiled bashfully as her laughter died down and she licked her lips, linking her fingers with Brittany's, "Thank you. We'll be having a housewarming party before the cubs arrive so, _please_ be there, Al. We're going to pick out furniture right now and we're gonna get it delivered next week." She said, "Right now Louis and my dad are doing all the electric wiring, soundproofing and plumbing. And tomorrow I'm installing the intercoms. The rooms are painted and carpeted and the inside of the house is dry, spotless and beautiful."

"And I haven't seen it yet." Brittany said with a pout and Santana nudged her cheek with her nose.

"You'll see it when it's furnished." She said, "But you've seen the outside."

"I have and it's the most beautiful house I've ever seen. You really did do an incredible job." Brittany said with a nod, "And that outdoor fireplace… hot damn, it's pretty. We're gonna have tons of barbecues with it in the summer, right babe?"

"Abso-fruitly-lutely." Santana said with a nod as she looked at the pictures and chuckled again, "Yep, those are my boys." She said with a nod earning chuckles from Alice and Brittany as she pulled open the door and let Brittany walk out, "Al, can we take a quick browse through here for the boys' rooms?"

"Absolutely." Alice said with a nod as she felt Brittany's belly when the blonde looked down at it with wide, surprised eyes, "Mommy, come feel; your boys are kicking."

"I'll be able to feel them?" Santana asked, shutting the exam room door behind them and moving over to Brittany, feeling her belly with both hands and sniffing as she waited for a kick. And then it came, three at the same time, "Whoa! I thought I wouldn't be able to feel them kick until week twenty; that's what the books say."

"That's the normal time that a father can feel his babies kick but your babies are prompt." Alice said, "They're also royal… strong and tough and _royal_. It's normal that you can feel them two weeks before you're supposed to. The King of a pride can usually feel his or her babies kick sooner than normal."

Santana smiled widely and let her eyes widen when all three of her boys kicked her hands and Brittany giggled as she looked away from the pictures in her hand and then folded them, tucking them in her large, oversized purse and adjusting it on her shoulder, "Wow, that's amazing." Santana breathed out happily.

"They're saying _'Hi mommy!'_ I've never gotten this many kicks all at once." Brittany said and Santana's grin widened even more at that information; her boys were kicking for her, her three baby boys – her cubs, "All right, come on let's get shopping. I'll be giving birth in three and a half months and we don't have any baby furniture." Brittany said as the boys stopped kicking and Santana removed her hands, "Alice, can human babies sleep in the furniture made for the cubs?"

"They can, yes. And those cribs that your fiancé designed are on sale in different colors. If you pay an extra ten dollars, Richard will engrave their names into them for you." Alice replied and Brittany's eyes widened as she looked at Santana with a nod.

"Babe, we don't know what we wanna call them." Santana said.

"Well, I have five boy names in mind." Brittany replied and Santana smiled.

"Me too. We'll talk while we're here, decide on three names we both like and then get the footed pajamas ordered and the cribs engraved before we head to the furniture store… yeah?" She suggested and Brittany squealed, wrapping her arms around Santana's neck and kissing her lips over and over again.

"Perfect. I'll be out front but Richard's at the register in here so just let him know if you need his help with anything." Alice said before kissing Brittany's cheek and giving Santana's shoulder a squeeze before walking back to the front of the store – the part of the store for humans that have no idea what spirit animals are – and shutting the door to the spirit animal side behind her.

Santana relinked hers and Brittany's fingers before leading her to the litter box sand types, "Richard!" She called to the register seeing as though they were the only people on this side of the store.

"King Lopez!" Richard called back jokingly earning a chuckle as he came walking down the sand aisle scratching his dark beard, pushing his glasses up his nose; he was still in fantastic shape and looked almost identical to Riley with added facial hair, "What's up?"

"Which sand type do we use for the litter box?" Santana asked, "I mean, the books listed all the types that are here and said we can pick any but I want the best for my boys."

Brittany smiled and kissed Santana's shoulder as Richard spoke, "Congratulations on that, by the way. I mean, I know my heightened senses are a little rusty in my old age but I heard _three identical boys_." He said and Santana smiled widely along with Brittany, thanking him to which they earned a nod and Santana got a firm pat on the back, "All right," He said, scratching his beard again and clearing his throat, "You don't want any of the dark soils because the litter box will be harder to clean with those. What you want is something lightly colored and soft." He informed them, "For boys I'd recommend either the silty soil or the sandy soil. They're both just as good but the sandy soil is softer."

"We're gonna need a cart." Brittany said, patting Santana's butt and moving to where she saw the carts before, pulling two out as Santana and Richard continued to talk and pushing them over. She nudged Santana's butt with the cart in front and chuckled when the brunette squeaked, "Here, you push one and I'll push one." She said, pulling the front cart out for Santana and holding onto the other one, "All right, which soil have we decided on; silty or sandy?"

"Sandy beach soil which is the softest and lightest." Santana said while she hoisted two large bags of sandy beach soil into her arms with no struggle and put them in her cart before grabbing another and tossing it in with the other two.

"Jesus." Brittany breathed at the sight of the strength on the woman and widened her eyes, "What else do we need in this aisle?"

"Uh… nothing else right now." Santana said, "These three bags will fill the entire litter box in the upstairs bathroom so when we run out of good sand we'll come back. Now we need cub car seats and we'll come back before they're six months for the human car seats."

Brittany frowned and followed Santana and Richard to the aisle with the cub car seats, "They're different?" She asked curiously, completely blanking on what she'd read in the fourth book.

"Yeah." Santana said, slowing her steps and waiting for Brittany to walk up next to her so they were side by side, "Human babies sit with their backs against the seat in the car whereas lion cubs don't because of their tails. They lie on their sides."

They stopped at the car seats and Brittany cooed, "Look how cute that baby lion is!" She said with a giggle as she looked at the picture on the box of the car seat and Santana smiled, "Oh. Now that looks safer than a regular car seat."

"It is." Santana said, grabbing two off the shelf and putting them in her cart while Richard managed to fit the last one in as well, leaving Brittany's cart open for the changing tables and cribs, "Because the cubs can't be buckled in. So they have to be strapped in with a thick-length-ways and thick-width-ways cast padding. Which will never break. They can't move around too much and most lion cubs fall asleep in cars or moving vehicles."

Brittany nodded and sniffed while Richard jogged back to the register to answer the ringing phone, "Okay. Before we get the cribs, tell me the five names you like for a boy." She said, "We've gotta pick three names now before we order the footed pajamas for the day they're born and for the day before their six month birthday."

Santana nodded in agreement and leaned against the handle of her cart, "All right, I've got Kody – with a _K_ – James Lopez, Anthony Peter Lopez, Jason Earl Lopez, Gerald Tomas Lopez – Tomas spelled T.O.M.A.S – and Kenneth Timothy Lopez." She said and Brittany sniffed.

"I like Kody James Lopez." She said, "And I like Tomas without an _H_ for one of the middle names but not with the first name _Gerald_. We are not naming any of the sons we have _Gerald_." Santana chuckled and nodded.

"All right. We've got one name down. Two to go. Let's hear yours."

"Cole Carter Lopez, Mitchell – and then I'm thinking Tomas for the middle name – Lopez, Ma—"

"Done. I love those names. Cole Carter Lopez can be the first one that comes out because the letter _C_ comes before _K_ or _M_ in the alphabet. Then Kody James Lopez can be second because the letter _K_ comes before the letter _M_. And the third baby that pops out will be Mitchell Tomas Lopez." Santana said and Brittany smiled widely with an agreeing nod as Richard came back, "All right, let's pick out some cribs and get them engraved."

"Will they fit in the truck?" Brittany asked and Santana nodded.

"They come packed in boxes so, we'll get them engraved on the wood with the boys' names, put them back in their boxes and load them into the truck before everything else. I'll take everything up to the rooms you picked out for the boys with Louis and Puck while you relax at your parents' house, okay?" She suggested and Brittany smiled gratefully with a nod.

"It's a plan, San." She said and then threw Santana a playful wink to which she earned a laugh while they followed Richard to the cribs and changing tables – which were DIY, "Do the cribs come in colors for specific genders?"

"Yep." Santana said with a nod as Richard hummed, leading them out of the aisle they were in and left toward the aisle two down where they kept the cribs and changing tables, "Do we want rocking chairs for feeding times in each of their rooms?" She asked over her shoulder and Brittany nodded.

"Only if they're DIY." She said, "We can't fit three built rocking chairs in the truck."

Santana stopped in her tracks when Richard stopped at the cribs and, on the other side of the aisle, changing tables – the ones Santana designed, "They're DIY, baby." She told her fiancé when the woman pushed her cart up next to her while she looked at the pictures on the boxes of the cribs and looked at Brittany, "The cribs are partly DIY because we had to make the box big enough to fit it inside but, at the same time, small enough to fit into any trunk. But once the cribs are built they look huge in comparison to the box."

"I like the bumblebee yellow ones; they match the walls in the kids' bedrooms." Brittany said, pointing at the box that had a picture of the built crib with a mahogany cupboard going down to the floor where it stood still on four thick legs while the top was a large, oval shaped bumblebee yellow bassinet with a built in mattress. The cupboard beneath it was in the same shape as the bassinet and Brittany nodded in confirmation when Richard touched the box she was pointing at and raised an eyebrow in question, "That's the one. And I know we need baby blankets too." She said as Richard put the box in her cart while Santana rested on top of the three car seat boxes and litter box sand in her cart. Richard then managed to fit another crib in Brittany's cart before sighing and clearing his throat.

"You two browse the changing tables and I'll go grab another cart." He said, turning and beginning a walk down the aisle before turning and looking at the couple, "Did you see Puck and Quinn's announcement on Facebook?" He asked and Santana pulled out her phone as he smiled, turned and disappeared to get another cart.

Santana scrolled through her feed and then gasped loudly, "They're engaged!" She squealed and Brittany gasped, looking at the screen of the phone and squealing excitedly while Richard's chuckles bounced through the aisles as he pushed a third cart to the aisle the couple was still in, "Oh, my God! That's amazing!" Santana exclaimed, hitting _comment_ and typing out a congratulations message from herself and Brittany, sending it and locking her phone before tucking it back in her pocket and smiling at Brittany, "Now it's just Riley, Penny, Blaine and Kurt to go."

"Yep." Brittany said with a firm nod, "Blaine and Kurt will take a while. Maybe another year. But Riley and Penny will be engaged by the time we have the boys."

Santana smiled at her confident fiancée who was browsing through the changing tables, "You sound awfully confident." She chuckled as Richard stopped in front of Brittany's cart with the third one.

"I know my friends pretty well." She said, patting a box with a picture of a mahogany changing table that matched the cribs they picked out with a bumblebee yellow changing mat built into it, "Three of those, Rich." She said and Richard chuckled, grabbing one box and putting it in his cart while Santana grabbed two more at the same time and put them in too, "Now blankets, a few cub toys and rocking chairs. We'll do the chairs first."

Richard nodded, spun his cart around and led them to the end of the aisle, stopping and pointing to the left where the boxes of DIY rocking chairs were, "I like this one." Santana said, patting a box with a picture of a mahogany rocking chair that had a cushion built into it made out of French vintage tufted leather that matched the chair.

"Love it. One, two, three." Brittany said with a thumbs-up, "Man, shopping for baby stuff with you is so easy. We're almost done."

Santana chuckled and grabbed three boxes at once with not even one flinch or grunt and put them in Richard's cart, "Britt's pregnancy has been surprisingly weird." Santana said, "Al warned us that it would be but Britt hasn't even had any cravings or morning sickness. None of it… well, one craving."

"Sex." Brittany said, not getting the hint that Santana was making a sexual innuendo. Richard laughed and led the couple to the cub toys, breast pumps, blankets and cub bottles in the next aisle down.

"And not knowing when I'm making an innuendo." Santana teased, patting Brittany's butt and pecking her cheek while she smiled, blushed and rolled her eyes as Richard chuckled and stopped at the toys.

"You'll get all your food cravings in months eight and nine. Morning sickness never comes though." Richard said, "The perks of being pregnant with spirit animals." He said and Brittany nodded, fist pumping as Santana snickered and looked at the toys; ropes for tug-of-war, play mats with pictures of the other four spirit animals all over them that came equipped with pop-up gazelles and lion hunters for the cubs to pounce at, cuddly stuffed lions that were either male or female so the cubs could get used to what their lion parent looks like and a mat with a mirror in the middle so they can get used to what _they_ look like in lion form and in baby form. Santana and Brittany grabbed three of each – of course when it came to the stuffed lions they only grabbed three of the males – and put them in Richard's cart before moving down the aisle and picking out two midnight blue blankets for each cub – in total, six – and then moving on to the breast pumps where Brittany grabbed the most expensive breast-pump-pack which came with two electronic breast pumps and six bottles. Richard then got them six more bottles that were the same as the ones in the pack and put them in a large baby bag that Santana picked out for them. Brittany cooed at how cute the bottles were and made sure to ask Richard to print the boys names onto four bottles each so they'd know whose was whose. He nodded and led them to the counter, confident that they had everything they needed for the time being and then unpacked all the bottles from the breast-pump-pack, standing them on the counter and clearing his throat, "All right, what are the first names you've chosen?" He asked, pulling out a pad and a pen.

"Cole – C.O.L.E. Kody – K.O.D.Y. And Mitchell – M.I.T.C.H.E.L.L." Santana told him and he wrote them down before kneeling down, opening the cupboard in the counter and pulling out his Irremovable-Label Maker, "That's awesome." She commented and Richard smiled brightly, getting it ready with transparent label sheets and putting them in the Irremovable-Label Maker.

"Okay, what color are Cole's bottles going to be?" He asked, looking between the four navy blue bottles, the four canary yellow bottles and the four grass green bottles.

Brittany looked at Santana who nodded at her, letting her know she could decide, and then looked back at the bottles, "The yellow." She replied and Richard nodded, typing out COLE on the label maker four times, one a few inches underneath the other before tearing the sheet off and cutting the four labels into perfect labels with his guillotine that rested next to the register. He then pulled off the back of one of the labels, revealing the sticky side and lifting one of the bottles, sticking it on the top and smoothing it out. He then did the next three and smiled at his perfect work.

"Try getting those off." He said with a proud chuckle before reusing the sheets he'd used for Cole's bottles and putting one of the pieces back into the label maker, typing out KODY four times, one a few inches underneath the other before repeating the process and putting the labels on the grass green bottles after Brittany pushed them toward him. He then repeated the process with the last piece of the sheet he'd used and typed out MITCHELL, putting the labels on the navy bottles and sniggering to himself, "All right, pop those in the baby bag and let's get these cribs engraved. I can do the backs of the chairs if you want too." He said, putting his label maker back turning on his heel, opening the cupboard behind him and pulling out his handheld, battery operated wood engraver.

"Yes, please, Rich; that's brilliant." Brittany said as she tucked the labelled bottles into the baby bag and smiled at her fiancé.

Richard nodded and shut the cupboard, pulling over a stool and rolling out from behind the counter with his engraver as Santana pulled the back of one of the rocking chairs out of its box and handed it to him. He lowered the stool a little before turning on his engraver and very slowly engraving a _C_ into the top of the back, showing Santana and Brittany who smiled, nodded, commented and told him to continue. He took another ten minutes to finish the name _Cole Lopez_ before he blew the dustings out of the letters and handed it to Santana who looked at it and then tucked it back in its box, the next two already leaning against the side of the counter for Richard to engrave. He engraved _Kody Lopez_ into the next one, blew, handed it to Santana who looked it over and tucked it in its box as Richard started the next one, engraving _Mitchell Lopez_ into it, blowing and handing it back to Santana who looked it over and tucked it back in its box just like she'd done with the first two.

"Now, I don't actually suggest that you get the cribs engraved and I'll tell you why; you will be having more cubs after your boys are born and you won't want to have to buy new cribs. And if their names are engraved into them then it won't feel like they belong to the new cubs. The rocking chairs they can use forever but they won't be sleeping in a crib forever." Richard said, "I'm happy to do it but, in my opinion, it's not a good idea."

Brittany and Santana looked at each other and then gave each other a nod, "You're right." Santana said, tucking the last box with Mitchell's rocking chair back in the third cart, "The chairs are perfect. That's enough. And when they're older they can take their chairs to their own houses when they meet their mates and have their own cubs. The chairs could be _Dad's chair_ or _Mom's chair_ , you know?"

Brittany nodded in agreement and smiled at her fiancé, giving her a peck as Richard rolled his stool back behind the register and put his engraver back, shutting the cupboard and grabbing the wireless scanner to scan the boxes in the carts.

It took them over an hour to scan everything, order their custom made footed pajamas, pay and push the carts out the back exit of the store so no one saw them coming out the spirit animal part of the store with all their stuff and want to go in too; Alice and Richard were smart with their store, they had a whole bunch of back exits that led to the parking lot outside which is where Santana and Brittany had parked her truck and come into the spirit animal part of the store from – the back exits.

Richard helped Santana load the canopy of the truck while Brittany rubbed her belly and watched them as they loaded it in under five minutes with their lion strength. Richard then pulled all three carts together and smiled at the couple, "Good luck, you two. Remember to come here when you go into labor, Brittany, all right? Santana, you bring her here. We have a small maternity ward leading through those large double doors we passed. You come here and stay here until Alice discharges you, okay? This is the next generation of our pride and we now have the proper equipment and facilities to take care of them. And on the day you go into labor the next King of our pride will be born and twenty-one years later he'll take over. So you bring her—"

"—here. I got it." Santana said with a nod and a slight chuckle, "I remember where the doors are; don't worry. When Britt goes into labor we'll be here. I've read all the books; I know when to bring her. Don't worry about a thing."

Richard nodded and patted her shoulder before hugging Brittany and rubbing her belly, "I'll see you guys when I see you." He said, pulling the carts back as Santana shut and locked the canopy, "Drive safe."

"Thanks, Rich!" Santana called after the man as he jogged the carts back to the hidden back entrance to their store. He waved over his shoulder, disappearing from sight as Santana smiled and walked Brittany around the car to the passenger side, pulling open the door and helping her into the car before pressing a lingering kiss to her cheek and smiling against it, "I love you."

"I love you." Brittany said with a small laugh before Santana shut the door and moved around the truck to the driver's side, climbing in and starting the car after she and Brittany had buckled themselves in. She pulled out of their spot and drove out of the lot, turning left in direction of the house.

* * *

 **2012 – Beginning of January**

Brittany was now twenty-four weeks – or a full six months – pregnant with the boys. They hadn't announced to anyone that they were having boys and knew Richard and Alice would keep it quiet. Brittany had declined a baby shower as they already had everything they needed and suggested a _baby shower_ when the cubs were five months old so they'd have everything they needed for when they shifted into babies.

Santana and the pride had finally finished the house and they'd just finished arranging all the furniture, leaving eight of the rooms empty for when they had more cubs. Today was the day; Brittany was finally seeing the house. She stood, blindfolded, on the front porch with her hands rested on her large belly and an excited smile on her face. Santana jingled the keys making her squeal before she heard the lock turn as Santana unlocked the front door. She pushed it open, the entire pride – Matteo, Maribel, Richard and Alice – behind Brittany, and took her fiancée's hand. She led her inside and kissed her cheek as Brittany stopped after she'd walked in the door – which was the right door of two black mahogany double doors with golden knockers on each door in the shape of a male lion head roaring – while everyone else followed slowly up the porch steps.

"Okay, you ready?" Santana asked and Brittany nodded frantically. She chuckled and nudged Brittany's cheek with her nose before untying the blindfold and holding it tight against Brittany's eyes, "One, two… three." She pulled it off and smiled widely when she heard Brittany gasp. The blonde looked to her left and pulled open the door that stood there, squealing when she saw all of hers and Santana's coats hung on a rail inside. She then shut the door and giggled excitedly when she saw the two arches directly opposite each other leading to the living room and family hall. She walked as fast as she could down the hall and across the cobalt blue shag carpet she and Santana had picked out for the front hall to the arch on the right and walked through it, running her hands over the beautiful white painted archway that showed the separation from the archway and the gorgeous cobalt blue walls which matched the front hall's carpet, into the family hall where she saw the two display tables she and Santana had picked out for their photographs already displaying three photos each of some of the pride members, herself and Santana, Santana's parents and Brittany's parents on their wedding day which made her well up. One of the tables was up against the right wall of the family room next to the bathroom door and the other was to the left of the archway. She smiled brightly and kicked off her shoes, running her foot along the cobalt blue shag carpet that rested on the wood floors in the middle of the family hall. She squealed happily and moved to the bathroom door on her right, opening it and gasping.

"Look at this sink!" She shrieked in excitement, walking over the tiled floor toward the sink and stepping onto the third cobalt blue shag carpet rested in front of the sink. She ran her hands over it as Santana and the rest of the pride listened to her squeal from the family hall. Brittany left the bathroom, keeping the door open after opening the cobalt blue curtains and peering out the window onto the front porch. She giggled happily and walked as fast as she could to the archway opposite the one leading into the family hall and gasping, bringing her hands to her mouth at the sight of the large room she was now in – the kitchen and dining room separated by yet another cobalt blue shag carpet which was narrow and long, starting two inches away from the archway and ending two inches away from the most adorable breakfast nook Brittany had ever seen. She walked straight across the carpet, letting the softness of it embrace her bare feet, and to the breakfast nook – it seated twelve comfortably and had cobalt blue curtains peering out to the rest of the large land that her parents had owned and left to her where there would soon be another house for two of the pride members; most probably Quinn and Puck. She smiled and peered out the window before scooting out of the nook and to the dining room to her left, running her hands excitedly over the gorgeous table that seated sixteen comfortably; clearly Santana was keeping it safe and estimated that they wouldn't have more than ten kids. She walked as fast as she could with her large belly to the cobalt blue curtains that were blanketing the gorgeous window behind the head of the table. She spread the curtains open as everyone watched her with smiles on their faces at the sight of her excitement and joy – Santana with tears in her eyes – and watched her move right across the large room to the kitchen, gasping as she ran her hands over the shining marble counters and the marble island in the middle of the kitchen. She then opened the dishwasher and peered inside with a large smile, turning to Santana and giggling like an excited child before opening the state-of-the-art oven and squealing when she looked inside. She then shut it and pulled open all the drawers, one right after the other, and found the trashcan in the only large one, smiling at Santana when she realized the woman remembered where she'd wanted the trashcan so it wouldn't stink up the house. Every cupboard and every drawer was filled with all the kitchen items they'd need and there was the most beautiful sink Brittany had ever seen. She then smiled at all the cute magnets on the fridge that she remembered telling Santana she liked when they went to the store and never got – her mate had remembered every single one she'd pointed out. She then opened the fridge to find it fully stocked and working before she opened the freezer to find it fully stocked and working earning a large, teary smile from the woman. She shut the fridge as Santana unlocked the back door next to it that led to the back porch. She opened it and walked out, smiling when she saw the porch swing from her parents' back porch sitting there under a gorgeous cobalt covering that covered the entire porch to protect it from rain. She then sat on the swing and looked at all the windows that lined the large back wall, pouting when she saw that the curtains to those rooms were closed. She then sprung up as carefully as she could and walked back inside with the whole pride following her while Santana wiped her cheeks of their tears and sniffled, jogging up behind her quick, pregnant fiancée who walked straight through the family hall and to the living room where she clapped and squealed at the sight of the fireplace and couches as well as the large flat screen TV she'd told Santana she liked the most sitting on the wall straight ahead of her. The walls in every room of the house were cobalt aside from the bedrooms. Brittany saw the stairs when she was running her hands across the backs of the three sofas that formed an incomplete square around the coffee table, facing the TV and the black table that held their DVD player and DVR, which Santana had built, polished, painted black and gotten Richard to engrave _Lopez_ across the length of it. The couches were cobalt and soft and all seated four people; they rested atop a large, square, black shag carpet which also held the coffee table which held the remote controls for the TV, DVR and DVD player.

Brittany peered out the window on the wall to the left of her as she walked into the living room after pulling the cobalt curtains open and smiled at the snow falling to the ground outside before looking to her left and squealing at the sight of the tall pot-plant in the corner, "You remembered the plant." She said as she welled up again, fanned her face and sniffled, "You remembered everything." She said with a shaky tone as Santana smiled and moved over to her, pressing a kiss to her lips and wiping the tears that had fallen down her cheeks, "And you said we couldn't get the plant or the TV or the magnets because they were too expensive." She reminded Santana as more tears fell and she sniffled, now completely overwhelmed only having seen three quarters of the first floor. Santana wiped her tears with the pads of her thumbs and pressed a lingering kiss to her quivering lips.

"My parents helped us out a little." She told the woman who smiled a teary smile and blew kisses to her future parents-in-law who caught them and pressed them to their chests making her well up more. Santana chuckled and welled up herself, blinking her tears away and bringing her pregnant mate into her arms, "You wanna see the six rooms down here before we head upstairs?"

"Uh-huh, yeah." Brittany said after another sniffle, letting Santana take her hand and lead everyone back into the family hall and through the archway on the corner of the left wall. She switched on the light by flipping the switch to the right of the archway on the wall, lighting up the long hallway. Brittany smiled and looked at all the empty bedrooms for their future kids one by one – they all had bumblebee yellow soundproof padding on the walls, black mahogany floors, black curtains and bumblebee yellow, square shag carpets placed in the middle. There were built-in cupboards across the entire length of the right walls as you walked in the door, "Those bedrooms are just how I pictured them." Brittany told her mate as the woman now helped her up the first staircase to the second floor, "And you're gonna have to teach me how to use those intercoms because I saw them all and they were all on but they look super confusing and I'm not very good with technology… you know that."

"I know." Santana said with a smile as everyone followed her and Brittany up the stairs. Brittany smiled at her.

"Aw, babe."

"I know." Santana chuckled as Brittany kissed her cheek before they reached the top of the stairs, "All right, family room first, then the five kid's bedrooms and then the bathroom and then our room."

"Okeydokey." Brittany said, letting Santana lead her straight through the archway on the left wall as you got up the stairs and straight ahead through the one across the way into the large family room which had four of the same sofas from the living room arranged in a complete square with a matching coffee table to the one in the living room in the middle. Again, beneath them, was a black shag carpet which rested on the mahogany floors. As you walked in, in the far right corner, was the fire place which was in the same place as the one in the living room and was also linked to the outdoor fireplace. Pressed against the left wall was a bookcase with a bunch of Brittany's books on it as well as ones Santana's parents had brought over of hers from their house. The bookcase matched the carpet and the curtains matched the walls. Brittany peered out the window with Santana behind her and smiled as the snow fell softly to the ground outside their new home.

Santana then took her hand and led her straight through the archways they'd walked through before, straight ahead and making a right turn. Brittany then smiled and looked at the first two empty bedrooms that matched the ones downstairs before she moved on to the third one and smiled when she saw the big canary yellow _C. C. L._ letters on the door. She then opened the door with Santana bouncing excitedly on her toes behind her, and walked in, gasping and beginning to tear up again as she took in the sight before her; the crib was built and placed in the center of the bumblebee yellow shag carpet in the middle of the room. The walls were covered in the same bumblebee yellow soundproofing material as all the others and on the changing table, which was pushed up against the left wall, were Cole's four bottles with their labels facing the wall so the pride wouldn't see his name on them and figure out the sexes. In the far left corner, behind the changing table, was Cole's rocking chair and inside his crib cupboard were all the toys they'd bought for him.

Brittany made a mental note to ask Santana where she'd put the car seats later before she spoke, "It's perfect." She whispered, moving over to Santana who stood in the doorway and smiled at her.

"Who's C. C. L?" Riley asked and Brittany smiled at her as she gave her fiancé a hug.

"You'll find out the names of the kids when they're born. Have patience." She said gently before nuzzling her head in Santana's neck and pressing a kiss to it.

The pride peered into Cole's room before Santana shut the door and they moved onto the next one with the big grass green _K. J. L._ letters on the door. Brittany opened it, walked inside and smiled when she saw it matched Cole's room except instead of canary yellow bottles with the name _Cole_ labeled onto them on the changing table there were four grass green bottles with Kody's name facing the wall once again. They left Kody's room after the pride had taken a look and made their way to the last bedroom they'd see before the master; Mitchell's room where the big navy blue _M. T. L._ letters rested on the door. They walked in and the room was identical to the other two except, once again, the bottles on the changing table which were blue and also had their owner's name facing the wall. All the intercoms that were in the bedrooms were placed next to the light switch to the left of the door, built into the soundproofing material comfortably; Santana had made certain not to name Cole, Kody and Mitchell's rooms on the intercoms until the pride had left that night so they wouldn't see the names – the couple wanted it all to be a surprise for their family.

"Oh, man." Brittany said, "The cubs' rooms are perfect, baby; I love them."

"Yeah?" Santana asked and Brittany nodded as they stood in the archway across from Kody's room and kissed before Santana turned Brittany around and watched her smile as she walked into the huge area in front of her which had, of course, brown mahogany floors and a huge cobalt shag carpet. And resting on that carpet were two desks which were facing each other that held two brand new laptops, cellphones and stationery which rested in pencil cups all around both desks. They were both black so that their colors wouldn't collide with the carpet and Brittany squealed when she saw them.

"I thought the blue prints said you were gonna put couches in here?" She asked as she moved over to the desks while looking back at Santana who shrugged and gave her a wink. She sat at the desk facing the window and Santana gave her father a look that said she knew Brittany would pick that desk. Everyone watched Brittany spin in her comfortable black desk chair before hugging her future parents in thanks, knowing they were the ones that had paid for it all. They each kissed her cheeks and rubbed her belly before Santana took her hand and led everyone to the bathroom which they'd use for the cubs.

She opened the door and Brittany walked in, gasping at the sight of the black mahogany floors, which matched the floors of the bedrooms, and smiling happily at the sight of the large litter box for their cubs built into the floor with all three large bags of the sandy beach soil filling it up. A thin cabinet rested just behind it and Brittany opened it, laughing when she saw the rake that rested in it which would make it easier for them to clean the litter box. The pride laughed with her when they saw the rake before she shut the cabinet and turned to look at the large shower which took up the entire length of the wall to the right of the door. The door to the shower was glass and Brittany opened it, stepping inside the tiled shower, chuckling when she saw the word _Lopez_ written across the length of the shower on the tiles. She looked up and saw all the nozzles acting as shower heads before looking at her mate through the glass and smiling widely. She then stepped out and moved to the large bath to the right of the litter box which was just like the one at her parents' house only slightly bigger. She then looked ahead at the door leading to hers and Santana's room and looked to the left of it at the two-person sink that held two toothbrush cups – one with hers and Santana's toothbrushes and a tube of toothpaste and the other with three toothbrushes and kid's toothpaste, one canary yellow, one grass green and the other navy blue. There was a large, length-ways mirror just above the sinks and she smiled, looking into it and licking her lips before looking at the toilet which was next to the shower on the other side of the bathroom door.

"You ready to see our room?" Santana asked and Brittany nodded excitedly as she shut off the light, which was next to the bathroom's intercom (as were all the rooms in the house), and shut the door once the whole pride had seen the bathroom, all cooing at the litter box, "Okay," Santana breathed out nervously, leading Brittany to their large, black double doors which led to their room, "If you don't like it we can change it, all right? You have to sleep in this room for the rest of your life so you have to feel comfortable in it, yeah?" Brittany stroked her cheek, pecked her lips and nodded with a whisper.

"I've loved everything so far; why would I stop now when you're clearly brilliant."

Santana smiled as Brittany pulled away and bopped her nose before she stepped back and let Brittany open the doors. Brittany gasped and covered her mouth with her hands as she walked in with everyone behind her. To the right of the doors was a large window covered by black curtains to match the doors and the floors were also black mahogany to match all the other rooms. Except the walls in this room were scarlet, just like Brittany had wanted, and the bed was king-sized, resting on a black shag carpet, covered with white sheets, scarlet duvet covers and scarlet pillow cases wrapped around the pillows. The nightstands were scarlet as well and the lamps resting on each of them had black shafts and scarlet shades. To the right of the door, against the same wall, were the cupboards – black – and between them was a large flat screen stuck to the wall and on the built-in table attached to the cupboards on either side beneath the television was a DVD player, a DVR, the remote controls and, beneath it, a DVD rack stacked with new DVD's. Brittany immediately looked through them and then thanked her future parents again earning smiles and chuckles as she squealed over the collection. She then moved to the scarlet couch facing the window in the large space next to the bed and felt the material, not remembering picking out this couch and realizing that this was the one Santana had been sitting on while she found the perfect couches for the living room and family room. On either side of the couch were small, square tables that lined up with the arms which had matching, yet smaller, lamps to the ones on the nightstand resting on them. Brittany then moved to the bathroom door and opened it, smiling widely when she saw the bathroom she'd just been in moments ago.

She shut the door and smiled at her fiancé who had her hands tucked in her pockets and nerves all over her expression. She smiled happily and walked over to the woman, bringing her into a deep kiss earning a relieved sigh as Santana held her and kissed her back while the pride whooped and some chuckled, clapping their hands for the couple who were finally home.

* * *

After Santana had shown Brittany how to use the intercoms and was certain the blonde had it down while the pride hung out in the kitchen, they named the cub's rooms together and switched off the intercom's screens on the first floor from the main one in their room so the pride wouldn't see the names they'd picked out or know they were having boys.

They then made their way downstairs – deciding on seeing the third floor when it was light out – and cooked dinner together before all fourteen of them sat around the dining room table and chatted away about how stunning the house was. They ate, laughed, welled up with emotion, complimented the chef and the house designer and then, when they'd finished their dessert and all the dirty dishes were loaded in the larger-than-life dishwasher, Santana's father stood at the foot of the table with his glass of wine while her mother pulled a small, wrapped box from her purse that had a ribbon tied around it.

"Santanita and Brittany," Matteo said, "Your mother and I couldn't even begin to explain to you with words how proud we are of everything you two have made together; a relationship, triplets, an engagement and a house… all in six months." Santana smiled and gave Brittany's hand an affectionate squeeze on the table as she held her wine glass with her other hand while she and the rest of the people at the table listened to her father speak, "You two are now starting your own lives together and your mother and I have bought you a gift to celebrate that."

"What? Dad, you've already given us so much." Brittany said, holding onto her glass of milk while stroking Santana's hand with the thumb of the hand holding it.

"My Brittany, we haven't given you enough just yet." Matteo said as Maribel stood and took the small box over to Santana, putting it in front of her as Matteo walked over as well, "Open it and then come outside." He said before nodding at the pride who stood with their drinks and followed him out front while Maribel watched Santana open the box, revealing a card that read: _Our Brittany and Santana, to jump through a hoop of fire for your family is the greatest thing you can do. Love, mom and dad._ "

Santana let Brittany read the card while she frowned up at her mother who smiled and helped Brittany out of her chair, "Leave your drinks." She instructed, taking both their hands and leading them to the front door which was shut, "Close your eyes. No peeking." She said and the obeyed, not peeking once as she opened the door and led them out of it, helping them down the porch steps with their eyes still shut and stopping them. She then let go of their hands and smiled at the pride who were all standing in front of their last present, covering it completely, "Open your eyes." She told the couple who opened their eyes and frowned at the sight of their pride lined up in a row.

Matteo then revved the engine of what was behind the pride and they moved out of the way revealing a brand new, shiny, black Ford E-350 Club Wagon which seated twelve people. Brittany's eyes welled up and she walked to the side, fanning her face while Santana burst into tears and fell to her knees with the heels of her palms pressed into her eyes. Her parents had told her they'd take care of the car seats and put them out of the way while she arranged all the furniture and she now knew that they'd put all three car seats in their brand new car that seated twelve people.

Santana continued to sob, overwhelmed, still knelt on the floor as Brittany hugged her parents and gave them each kisses on the cheek with a tear sliding down her cheek as she thanked them gratefully. Matteo then made his way over to Santana – who the pride were watching with tears in their eyes including Riley, Richard, Louis and Puck – and patted her back, getting down on his haunches and giving her shoulder a squeeze as she pulled her hands away from her eyes, sniffled and wiped her cheeks, staring straight ahead of her at the car and letting her chin quiver before she spun around and hugged her father while her mother rubbed Brittany's belly, trying to calm the kicking triplets. Santana squeezed her father with all her lion strength and he chuckled when she squeezed harder than he could.

"You're stronger than me now, mija." He told her and she smiled, having calmed down, and patted his back as he pulled her up to her feet and pulled out of the hug, cupping her cheeks and pressing a kiss to her forehead, "You and Brittany deserve all this and the world, si?"

"Si, papi." Santana said with a nod and Matteo smiled, "I can't thank you enough."

"So, why don't we just skip it?" Matteo said, turning to face Brittany throwing her a wink after having used her line before looking back at his daughter, wiping her cheeks with the pad of his thumbs and smiling widely before pulling the keys out of his pocket and handing them over to his only child, "You two take it for a spin and the pride and I will put on the dishwasher and head home, si? It's getting late."

Santana smiled, nodded and looked down at the keys, "I love you, dad." She said, kissing her father's stubbly cheek before hugging and kissing her mother. She then hugged Brittany tightly and kissed her belly three times before blowing kisses to the pride and helping her wife into their new car.

As soon as they were both in, they buckled up and Santana started the car, revving the engine and smiling before putting the car in drive and taking off down the driveway towards the road while the pride watched them drive off, waving with large smiles and saving their hugs for when the couple got back.

* * *

 **Thank you for all the alerts on the last chapter! This was the longest one to date – three boys on the way, you guys; Cole, Kody and Mitchell. A new house and a new car! Thoughts?**


	5. One, Two, Three Cubs!

**2012 – Beginning of March**

Brittany, now two days into her ninth month, was craving certain foods and drinks; pickles, burgers, fries, steak, fried mushrooms, milk, beer – of which she was only allowed one a day – and pizza. Santana gave her whatever she wanted for the cubs, with Alice's confirmation that the cubs and Brittany would be healthier if she ate and drank what she was craving in moderation, on the condition that she went for a walk with Santana in the woods every day to keep Santana's lion at bay due to the fact that it was becoming anxious considering the cubs were due to arrive in twenty-six days.

The three boys were kicking quite a lot and moved around happily when Brittany had a bath or relaxed in their heated pool which she got to with Santana helping her climb up the stairs. Every time she'd relax in the pool Santana would strip down and shift into her lion, swimming around in the pool to bond with her cubs while they were still in the womb, pawing at Brittany's belly softly and licking it every so often which Alice said was good in order for the cubs to bond with her lion as well as her human.

Since Brittany's due date was so soon, Alice had jotted down a few notes for Santana on what to do when her cubs shifted as soon as their twenty-fifth hour in the world started. It went as such:

 **During the Entire Time You Spend At the Hospital:**

 **You must shift into your lion and let them lie on your chest to feel your heartbeat.**

 **You must give them their first bath in your lion, licking them clean and letting Brittany put them in their cribs at the hospital – you will most probably be there for a week.**

 **You may shift back into your human form when your cubs are asleep but when they wake and cry you must shift and let Brittany take care of their needs while you stand by her and watch them; this makes them feel safe.**

 **There will be a bed for you in Brittany's hospital room right next to hers and whilst she feeds them you must be in your lion form on the bed making sure your cubs can see you while they nurse on their bottles.**

 **Lastly, when you leave the hospital you must shift into your lion only ONCE each month for their first year and spend that entire day – from the moment you wake up to the moment your cubs go to sleep – in your lion form. They need to get used to seeing you as your lion as they get older.**

Santana had also begun to draw up blue prints for the other four houses she was going to build for the rest of the pride and was going to put them all close together on the land hers and Brittany's house rested on with connecting corridors coming off each house and leading to Brittany's parents' house which she'd now gotten permission to demolish and turn into their Pride House, promising her fiancée she'd save all the parts of the house that held significance to her. Brittany's idea for the Pride House was to have a wall for each couple so they could take pictures of their cubs every two months when they were in lion form as they grew and then stick them on the wall to show how much they grew every two months. Santana proposed the idea to the pride and they adored it so she drew up a five wall floor plan for the pride house and put it with the other four house blueprints in her desk. She had big plans for the pride's future and was determined to follow them through.

At her current – and fourth – ultrasound, Brittany's belly was ginormous as she lay on Alice's exam table with Santana's hand in hers as they looked at their cubs in 4D for the first time with large smiles as she watched the tiny humans sleep curled up with each other in her womb. Alice offered to show them the hospital room they'd be staying in once they arrived at the maternity ward she and Richard built together with the pride's parents when they were still kids and Santana and Brittany happily accepted the offer, Santana asking if the room they'd be staying in could be their room for when they had all their kids. Alice told her it was already reserved for them with a sign on the door that read: _Room 12, Santana and Brittany Lopez_. They had a total of fifty rooms in the ward and were working on expanding it to the basement of the shopping center as the pride was going to get bigger when all of the current members had cubs.

With their sonogram photos in hand, Santana and a waddling Brittany slowly followed behind Alice as she led them to the maternity ward and led them to their room. She told them that some of the other pride member's parents had been hired as nurses to help out as well as all their siblings who were trained in the profession. Santana and Brittany walked through the currently empty maternity ward as Alice told them that the nurses were starting work on Brittany's due date to be safe and to get everything ready for the expecting couple.

"That's really awesome of you, Al; thank you." Santana said, one hand on Brittany's back and the other holding her hand as they followed Alice to room twelve which was close by.

"Of course." Alice said with a smile over her shoulder as she stopped at room twelve and opened the door, leading the couple inside and smiling when their eyes widened.

"This is great." Brittany said, "So cozy. It feels like a home. I don't think I'll have any problem staying here for as long as we need to. I already wanna get into that bed."

"That's because you've come to the point in your pregnancy where you need bed rest and very little exercise to get ready for the cubs – the last month is always the time to relax and get yourselves ready to be parents." Alice said as Santana shifted into her lion and walked up the padded ramp attached to the bed to the left of Brittany's. She pawed around on the bed and then walked off, shifting and giving Alice a smile.

"That's really comfy." She commented and Brittany smiled, pecking her fiancé's lips and wrapping her arm around the woman's waist, "So, bed rest?"

"Yep. For the next month the only exercise you should be doing is walking up and down stairs – slowly – and moving carefully around the house." Alice said, shutting off the light in the room as she led the couple out, "And, if you're overdue, you can walk to make the labor happen but otherwise you should try and stay off your feet for as long as possible."

Santana and Brittany told Alice they understood as she shut the doors to the maternity ward and locked them, "Thanks, Al." Santana said and Alice smiled.

"You two drive safe. I'll see you when I see you." She said and turned to head back to the store while Santana and Brittany went in the opposite direction towards the parking lot.

As soon as they got home they made love due to Brittany's spontaneous shock of arousal and then lay in bed watching movies until dinner while Santana sat naked under the sheets and drew up more of her plans for the small – yet large enough for the entire pride – village she wanted to build. She planned to build a wall around the entire property and was overjoyed when Brittany told her that the woods behind their house belonged to her since her grandparents grew all the trees in them when they bought the large slab of land. Santana's plans then became even bigger and she drew up blueprints for a small shopping center in the woods after clearing out some of the trees, a hospital, restaurants and a preschool, elementary school, middle school and high school where their cubs could go instead of being stuck in a regular school where they couldn't shift.

Most of the blueprints for the necessities in the forest were done and Santana was holding off on the blueprints for the other houses until someone fell pregnant. She was certain that her plans for the small town she wanted to build were full-proof and would become a reality. And, in the future, when her cubs had their own cubs, she'd clear out more of the trees and build their houses as well as houses for the rest of the pride's cubs' cubs. She planned to wall-in the forest and make it inaccessible to outsiders who weren't a part of the pride.

The couple then ate dinner and went to bed, sleeping the night away after making wild love before they fell asleep.

* * *

 **April**

A loud, irritable groan was heard from the master bedroom and Santana looked at it from where she sat at her desk as Brittany – now huge – walked out holding her belly and lower back with an annoyed and uncomfortable expression on her face, "Bay-bee," She whined and Santana scrunched her eyebrows up in sympathy for her fiancée, "My due date was a week ago! Can't you just light a fire up in there and smoke them out?"

"I'm sorry you're uncomfortable, sweetheart." Santana said, putting her pencil down and pouting at her fiancée who pouted back and then waddled over slowly.

"It's April first," She huffed, "They should've been here seven days ago! This is ridiculous. Seriously, just reach up in there and yank them out before I go nuts."

"Well, the books and Alice said that walking's good so why don't we go for a little stroll across the land and I'll show you where I wanna put the other four houses and the corridors connecting all five to the Pride House?" Santana suggested and Brittany nodded. Santana nodded back and stood, taking her fiancée's hand and walking her slowly to the stairs, helping her down them and then walking her to the backdoor in the kitchen and helping her down the porch steps before they stopped and Brittany panted.

"Fuck!" She groaned and whined, "Just come out already!"

Santana pouted, rubbed Brittany's large belly and kissed it before starting a slow walk with Brittany's hand in hers, "All right, next door on the right I'm gonna build Louis and Brooke's house, about a hundred meters behind the Pride House I'm gonna build Riley and Penny's house and next to each other to the left of the Pride House I'm gonna build Puck and Quinn's house and Blaine and Kurt's house." She told the woman as they walked around the right of their house slower than snails with Brittany nodding along as she spoke while rubbing her belly, "And then the corridors coming off all the houses will all connect and they'll be high enough off the ground for me to walk under them with no problem in lion form. And then, behind our house about two hundred meters off and to the right of Riley and Penny's house will be a sandy, grassy spot where we can relax in our lions, train our cubs and play around and I'm gonna put outdoor furniture down so the mates have somewhere to sit."

"That's a great, beautiful, brilliant idea-Ah!" Brittany shrieked at the end, gripping her belly and squeezing Santana's hand in a vice grip, "Ow! Ow, ow, ow! Fuck you, cubs!"

Santana's eyes widened as the rest of the pride came out of the house that would soon be renovated into the Pride House and ran over to where they stood, "Brittany, are you okay?" Brooke asked, coming to a stop next to Brittany and putting her hand on the woman's belly while the pride gathered around them.

"Yeah. Yup." Brittany said as she practiced her breathing with frantic nods, "But I just went into labor." She told them and they smiled and began to cheer in excitement as Santana smiled widely while she and Brooke helped Brittany to the car while Riley ran inside to grab the baby bag and labor bag Santana had packed the week before Brittany's due date. She came racing out with them and opened the trunk of Santana and Brittany's Ford while the rest of the pride yelled in excitement as they hurried to open the passenger door for Brittany as Brooke and Santana helped her slowly to the car. Another contraction hit and Brittany screamed out in pain, squeezing the shit out of Brooke and Santana's hands who didn't feel the pain a regular human would feel due to their lion strength.

And then her water broke. Riley's eyes widened and she opened the trunk back up, digging in the labor bag and pulling out Brittany's sweats, shutting the trunk and racing over, "Here, take those off and put these on." She said and Brittany shook her head frantically.

"No! My legs are too fat." She whined and Santana frowned in sympathy for the woman, pressing a soft kiss to her cheek.

"Your legs are beautiful." She said, "We'll help you get the sweats on, okay? You won't be any more comfortable in wet pants, baby."

Brittany then nodded and Riley pulled down her wet sweat pants, helping her out of them before helping her into her dry sweats and pulling them up her legs and to her waist, "Okay, the bags are in the trunk; you're good to go." She said as Louis opened the passenger door while Brooke and Santana continued their slow walk to the car with their hands in Brittany's. They helped her into the car, shutting the door while Brittany buckled herself in and Santana pulled open the back door.

"Get in; we don't have time to stall." She said, waving her pride into the car. They all climbed in, taking one seat each of the remaining, empty ten, and she shut the door before moving to the driver's side and climbing in while Riley handed her the car keys over the back of her seat. She pulled out her phone, opened the group chat with the parents of all the pride members and handed her phone to Riley, "Announce that Brittany's gone into labor. I know my parents are gonna wanna be in the waiting room." She said, pulling on her seatbelt and starting the car before looking at her fiancée who'd gripped onto her thigh as another contraction hit while she breathed and breathed and breathed heavy breaths, "We're gonna be parents." She said and Brittany struggled a smile onto her face while the pride clapped and some of them got tears in their eyes, "You're doing good, babe. Hang in there." She said, putting the car in drive and speeding off down the dirt driveway, through the separate groups of trees, which was the entryway to the house, and driving in direction of the shopping center where the spirit lion hospital was.

The pride cheered the whole way there and then, when they'd arrived, all climbed out of the car – Riley grabbing the bags from the trunk – and Santana and the rest of them helped Brittany out of the car before Santana locked it and they all helped her to the hidden back entrance as a group while Riley led them there with the bags in her hand.

Clearly Richard and Alice had gotten the group text as Richard was waiting by the door of the hidden entrance with a wheelchair. Brittany sighed in relief and was helped into it before Santana grabbed the handles and ran the chair to the maternity ward. Richard ran alongside them and pushed the door open where Alice met them and led the pride to the waiting area while Santana pushed Brittany to their room with Richard and two nurses – who were Brooke's mother, Lillian, and aunt, Lindsay – walked with them to do their jobs.

Brittany was in a gown and in her bed within an hour and practicing her breathing while Santana held her hand through the contraction as Alice snapped on gloves and checked her dilation, "Three centimeters. You have a long way to go, Brittany. Would you like an epidural?" She asked and Brittany nodded frantically along with Santana before Alice nodded and left the room to get Brooke's father, Collin, who injected the epidurals.

Brittany was in active labor after an hour and Alice told her she was only four centimeters dilated as she relaxed into the bed, having had the epidural injected, while Santana lay on her own bed and listened to Alice with a reading book in her hand, "You've got a long road ahead but you are moving along so just relax – I'll be back every hour to check your dilation – and play some games, read a book or sleep for a bit. When you're ten centimeters – if you're asleep – I'll wake you up." She said and Brittany nodded with a smile as she inhaled a deep breath and sighed it out in relief that she could no longer feel her contractions.

Santana's parents came to visit them as soon as they arrived at the hospital and brought flowers and a balloon that said: _One, Two, Three Babies!_ They sat with them for an hour and a half before Alice came in, checked Brittany's dilation and smiled.

"We're at six centimeters." She informed the couple, "Almost there, sweetheart."

* * *

 **11:23p.m.**

Brittany had been in the delivery room pushing for two hours and, before she went in, she asked Collin to turn off the epidural so she could feel her boys come out. She was pushing like crazy; screaming, shrieking, sobbing and squeezing Santana's hand as hard as she could.

"All right, I see a head." Alice said and Brittany lay back, panting with sweat covering her forehead, "Okay, give me another big push and your first boy will be out, all right? Push, sweetheart."

Brittany sobbed and pushed again while Santana kissed her head and whispered words of encouragement. Alice repeated the word _push_ three times before a loud, squeaky wail was heard in the room and Santana and Brittany looked up, smiling when they saw little Cole in Alice's hands crying and waving his blood-and-goo covered arms in the air. Santana got tears in her eyes at the sight of the baby and Brittany smiled brightly at him before he was handed to Lillian to be bathed, weighed and changed into his canary yellow footed pajamas that had _Cole – 1_ printed on them. Another four minutes of pushing and Kody was out, wailing just as Cole did as his parents got a chance to look at him before he was handed to Lindsay who took him to the back of the delivery room to bathe, weigh and change him into his grass green footed pajamas with _Kody – 2_ printed on them. Mitchell clearly wanted to stay in because, after another fifteen minutes of pushing, he finally came out butt first and took his first breath, wailing and flailing his limbs in the air as his parents looked at him with the same love-struck smiles on their lips as they'd had when they saw Cole and Kody before he was handed to Lillian to be bathed, weighed and changed into his navy blue footed pajamas with _Mitchell –_ 3 printed on them after she handed Cole to an exhausted Brittany. The blonde happily took her son into her arms and smiled down at him as his cries died down, tears pooling in her eyes as Lindsay handed Kody to Santana. They both stared at two of their three identical boys with happy smiles before switching and holding the one the other held first. Lillian stood with Mitchell in her arms as Brittany put Kody in the medium sized bassinet next to the bed in the delivery room for all three of them before handing the small boy to her. Brittany stared down at baby Mitchell while Santana put Cole in the bassinet with a now calm Kody who'd opened his eyes and was looking around, showing off his bright blue eyes. Cole then opened his eyes when Santana put him down and she smiled, leaning down and pecking his forehead as he blinked his deep brown eyes and relaxed next to his brother.

Once Santana had held Mitchell, she put him with his brothers, telling Brittany his eyes were brown before they wheeled Brittany and their triplets back to room twelve – happy and healthy. Before Santana went to the waiting room to tell everyone their cubs had arrived, Brittany took a bath in the bathroom of room twelve and put on the labor pads for the bleeding before pulling on her pajamas and getting back into bed while the boys slept, curled up in each other in their bassinet. Santana stared down at her three sons with absolute love and awe in her eyes before gently kissing each one on the forehead and joining her lips with Brittany's. They'd put the boy's bassinet in the narrow space between the two beds in the room and Santana leaned over it to kiss her fiancée, telling her how proud she was of the woman and thanking her for bringing their boys into the world.

As the clock struck midnight and April first turned into April second, Santana made her way to the waiting room and inhaled a deep breath as the entire pride and her parents sat at attention looking tired yet excited to hear the sexes and names, "We have three baby boys." She said and the pride cheered earning chuckles from some of their parents who worked in the ward, "Cole Carter Lopez came out first and four minutes later Kody James Lopez popped out. And fifteen minutes after that Mitchell Tomas Lopez came out butt first. They're all happy and healthy; mother, cubs doing great."

The pride cheered and clapped before they pulled Santana into a group hug, congratulating her on her boys. She then led them all to room twelve and they piled into the large room, gathering around the beds as they quietly congratulated Brittany while Santana slowly and quietly lifted a sleeping Cole from the bassinet and handed him to her mother. She then passed him onto her father as Santana handed her Kody and eventually the entire pride had held and greeted the three newest members and the boys were back in their bassinet by one a.m.

The pride then left the new mothers alone with their cubs and Santana and Brittany stared down at their boys with large smiles and tired eyes before they both fell asleep.

* * *

During the night the boys woke up one after the other for a diaper change and a feeding. Brittany nursed each one on both breasts, switching them to her other breast two minutes into the feedings so one breast wouldn't turn out smaller than the other. And then, during the day, the pride was in and out of room twelve, wanting to be there at 11:26p.m when Cole would shift first into his cub form and then, four minutes later at 11:30p.m when Kody would shift. And fifteen minutes later at 11:45p.m when Mitchell would shift. They wanted to take pictures of how big the cubs were for Brittany's wall idea for the Pride House and they wanted to be present for each cub's first bath given to them by Santana in her lion form as soon as they'd shifted.

Brittany pumped milk out of both breasts at the same time all day filling the each of the cubs' four bottles for feeding times after their twenty-fourth hour. Alice said that the cubs were only allowed to breast feed after they were born during the first twelve hours and then had to be fed with the bottles for the last twelve in order for them to get used to the change in teats for when they shifted into cub form. Therefore, Brittany was literally pumping again after the boys had finished two bottles, connecting each one to the pumps and pumping again, filling them with milk before rubbing her nipples with nipple cream so they wouldn't crack. She had no problem pulling her breasts out in front of the pride and they politely focused on the babies while she pumped or rubbed on nipple cream. She napped every so often during the day, would wake up and pump again, immediately applying nipple cream afterwards.

And then it was 11:25p.m, the boys were butt naked and arranged in order of who came first, second and third between Brittany's legs on her bed and the entire pride was in the room when Santana shifted and Brittany put a wide-awake Cole on her bed with her. She stared down at her boy as the clock struck 11:26 and the pride watched, amazed as the tiny baby started to slowly shift into a lion cub the size of his back in baby form. Fur started sprouting up all over his skin and his little hands and feet turned into paws. He whined as his head shifted slowly into a cub's and then, after twenty seconds, he was the tiniest little lion cub, rolling onto his stomach and letting the pride and his mothers' observe his fur; he had tawny colored, slightly fuzzy fur and a dark raven line of fur stretched across his tiny back. The tops of his ears were raven colored and he had a white spot behind his right ear. Santana immediately started to lick his back with her large, lion tongue while Brittany and the pride cooed over the tiny cub who was literally the size of his own back in human form – so, so tiny. He squeaked and whined as Santana licked him which meant he didn't like baths and Santana then nudged him onto his back, licking his tummy, legs and paws before licking his tail and purring as his eyes closed and he fell asleep on her bed while Brittany put a sleeping Kody down next to a now sleeping Cole and they all watched as he shifted at 11:30 just as Cole did. His fur was also a tawny color and he had three large dark brown spots of fur – one in the middle of his back, one on the back of his neck and one on his left side. Santana bathed him with her tongue and he didn't complain once, now awake as he looked around at all the people cooing over him and then resting his head, rolling onto his side when Santana had finished his stomach and closing his eyes as he curled into Cole and fell asleep with his head rested on Cole's neck. Kody was smaller than Cole in lion form which just made the pride coo more at how cute and tiny he was. They all watched the two boys sleep while Brittany cuddled Mitchell until 11:44 when she put him on Santana's bed and stood next to Riley in front of Santana's bed, stroking her two already shifted cubs and pressing kisses to their heads between their ears. And then Mitchell shifted as well, the same size as Kody, and yawned as Santana licked him clean, squeaking through the yawn and looking straight at Brittany who had tears in her eyes, overwhelmed by the sight of her three lion cubs. His fur was completely tawny and the tips of his small ears were white. Santana finished licking the cub clean and he stood up shakily on his legs and stumbled his way to the edge of the bed clumsily to lie above Cole's head, curling his body around the two other cubs and going to sleep while Santana roared in pride and then licked her nose, resting her head above Mitchell's little butt and listening to the pride coo at how Kody and Cole's butts ended before her neck did. Her mane kept the cubs warm as she shut her eyes and Brittany said goodbye to the pride, showing them out and then watching her fiancé shift back to human form. They snapped pictures of the cubs together before gently moving each one of them back to the bassinet and watching as they all curled back into each other, fast asleep.

"They are _so_ beautiful." Brittany whispered as they stood in front of the bassinet in each other's arms and looked down at their cubs, "Look at Kody's beautiful spots and Cole's stripe and the small white spot behind his ear. And Mitchell's little white-tipped ears."

Santana smiled and stroked all three down their little sides and kissed her fiancée's forehead, "And how the tips of their tails are dark brown." She said, "When they get older the tips will grow out and their tails will get longer and thicker… just like their Johnson's."

Brittany chuckled and buried her head in Santana's chest before they settled into their beds for the night, said goodnight and went to sleep.

The first time a loud, squeaky cry escaped one of the cubs was when Kody woke up needing the bathroom and hungry. Brittany picked him up out of the bassinet and hushed him while Santana shifted into her lion and leaped off her bed, following Brittany tiredly to the litter box filled with sandy beach soil in the bathroom. The blonde put Kody down on the sand and kneeled down next to the litter box while Santana lay on her stomach and rested her head on the edge of it while they watched their boy take his first, clumsy steps in the sand, clumsily digging a small hole and having his first poop as a cub. He then buried it and stumbled back over to Brittany in the sand earning a lick to his side from Santana before Brittany picked him up and got one of his warm and full bottles, resting in her bed and holding him under his stomach while he sucked on the teat of the bottle with his head tilted up slightly as his little tail swayed. His eyes were closed as he finished his entire bottle and Brittany put him back in the bassinet after kissing his head and cuddling him to her chest for a minute.

She and Santana, both back in their beds, closed their eyes for eleven seconds before Cole woke up needing the bathroom and hungry. They repeated the process, Santana remaining in her lion, and watched the future King of the pride do a number one _and_ a number two in the litter box before they fed him and put him back. Mitchell then woke up six minutes later and Santana shifted again – he made a number one in the litter box and then Brittany fed him and put him back in the bassinet with his sleeping brothers before she and Santana fell asleep again.

* * *

"You know," Santana said as she stretched out on hers and Brittany's bed, happy to finally be home after a week and three days at the hospital, "When our boys are twenty-one, I'll have to hand the title of King over to Cole." She told her fiancée who lay down next to her and sighed happily, "And when they turn seventeen they'll automatically shift into their lions for that entire year and shift back on their eighteenth birthdays."

"Why?" Brittany asked with a confused frown.

"Because they need to learn, in that year, to fend for themselves, protect their family and hunt. And it'll be my job to teach them." Santana explained with a sniff before standing up and moving over to the intercom by the light switch next to the open double doors. She then tapped into the rooms on the intercom named _Cole's Room, Kody's Room_ and _Mitchell's Room_. She turned the volume up a fraction and moved back to the bed. They watched the screen of the intercom and smiled when they heard a tiny squeak as the button for Mitchell's room lit up in navy blue before going back to being grey and Santana kissed Brittany's head, "He's dreaming." She told the woman, now knowing all the sounds their cubs made and knowing what each sound meant.

Brittany chuckled and nodded against her chest, already a little smaller than she was when she was pregnant – the weight from carrying the cubs was falling off of her faster than she thought, "Yeah. Thank God we have a few hours to ourselves before one of them wakes up needing the bathroom and a bottle." She said with a tired sigh as Santana wrapped both of her strong arms around the woman, "I've refilled the ones we fed them before we left the hospital."

"Perfect." Santana said and kissed Brittany's head again, "They're beautiful, aren't they?"

"They really are." Brittany said with a smile, "And how come they're identical – aside from eye color and hair color – in human form but they're not identical in lion form?"

"Because their lions aren't their humans. Their lion faces are identical but their size, eye color and fur markings won't be." Santana said, "I guess it's just the way it works."

Brittany nodded in understanding and wrapped her arm around Santana's waist in the front, "Remember our third day at the hospital?" She said with a giggle and Santana groaned with disappointment in herself.

"Fuck, I scared Kody so bad." She said, "I didn't mean to bark at him but he was being naughty in that litter box by stalling and we were both exhausted. And I know he was doing it on purpose."

Brittany chuckled into her chest and pressed a kiss to it before resting her head there and snickering, "The way he jumped was so cute and then he immediately made his number one before trotting over to you and nuzzling his teeny little head in your mane in apology." She reminded her fiancé who nodded and sighed.

"I just felt bad." She said, "I really scared the poor kid. I think he only peed in fright."

Brittany laughed and shook her head, "He jumped and then moved across the litter box and made his number one." She said, "It wasn't in fright it was because he knew he was being naughty. I mean, they're literally the size of a human baby's back and they're already _so_ damn mischievous."

"They really are." Santana said, "But we love them."

"We really do." Brittany agreed, "And I also love how they didn't all start crying at the same time when we were in the hospital. It's like they knew that you wouldn't be able to feed them because you had to be in your lion the entire time they were awake when we were there."

"Yeah, that's usually what happens." Santana informed her fiancé who made a sound of surprise, "But now that we're home two of them will probably cry at the same time but never all three at once."

"That's okay because now you can actually feed them." Brittany said, "When do you shift next month for the whole day?"

"On the second." Santana replied and Brittany sniffed with a nod, "The same day I shifted when they did. I have to shift on the second of every month until their first birthday. Which is great because I'll at least have one day to stretch my legs."

"Yeah, that's the great part. And I think we should take the cubs for walks on those days in the woods with you and around the land to get them used to walking for long." Brittany said and Santana hummed in agreement, "How big will they be next month when you shift?"

"The size of a regular lion cub that's one week old." Santana replied, "Basically it goes like this: if they're one month old, they look one week, if they're one year old in lion form, they look one month old and so it goes. When they're seventeen years old and have to be lions for the year their lions will look like a seventeen month old regular lion. Which is quite big. They'll already have small manes and everything. But they won't be their full size. When they're twenty-four they'll be their full size."

"That's interesting." Brittany said, "And they'll be their full size at twenty-four because at twenty-four human years their lions will look twenty-four months and that's usually when a regular lion stops growing. Right?"

"Exactly." Santana said with a proud smile, "You catch on so fast."

"That's just because you explain things really well." Brittany said and then Santana smiled and kissed her head yet again, "I'm sorry I told the pride not to come back after they saw the cubs shift." She said softly, "I just don't want them bonding with our cubs until they're one month old, you know? I feel like that's when we should take them outside and introduce them to everyone. On the second of next month when you shift. So the other lions in the pride can shift too and we can spend some time out back with them and the other mates… After that they can see our cubs as much as they want to but when they do I want them in lion form just until the cubs are six months and are babies again."

Santana smiled and inhaled a deep breath, speaking on her exhale, "That's completely normal for the human _and_ lion mother of a spirit animal." She informed the blonde, "I don't want them seeing us and the cubs until next month either. The boys need to get used to the environment here before they meet four huge lions and those lions' human mates. If they met them now they'd just be startled. They're too little right now."

"It's really normal?" Brittany asked and Santana hummed in confirmation.

"Completely." She said, "It's just a protection thing that's embedded into the both of us when they're born. If parents of a spirit animal don't have that protection urge then something's not right. You weren't coming off as a bitch or anything if that's what you're worried about. The pride understood."

"No, I know. I just felt like I was being rude." Brittany said.

"They're our cubs." Santana said, "We make the rules. And you were unbearably sweet about it too. I feel like you don't have a single mean bone in your body."

Brittany chuckled and gave her fiancé a squeeze, "I wanna get married in July. The first. It's the day we met last year and you'll be in lion form on our one year anniversary." She spoke her thoughts and Santana smiled.

"That sounds like a perfect idea." She said, "July first; done. I'll speak to Kurt and mom about the planning."

"Great. And I wanna get married out back." Brittany added, "And we can have the reception in the house. But it can't be a huge party because the cubs will only be three months then. We can just have a quiet dinner with the pride while they play or sleep on their play mats. Is that okay?"

"Of course. I agree with you. I don't want a big party either." Santana said, "We're parents now so it's not good for us to get drunk and play loud music when we have three month old triplet lion cubs. And I think my mom and dad can cook the food and everything. And we can use the dining room chairs for the ceremony. Oh! And Blaine's ordained so he can marry us."

"I think it's all sorted then." Brittany said with a wide smile and Santana nodded as the blonde leaned up on her elbow and looked down at her mate, "We're getting married in three months."

"We are." Santana said with a wide smile as she brushed a strand of hair out of Brittany's face, "We most definitely are."

* * *

 **May**

The cubs were one month old now and were the size of a one week old regular lion with tiny ears and tiny paws, thin tails and small eyes. And today was the day they met the pride. Brittany had sent out a text on their group chat and asked if the lions could shift and move out back with their mates. She also asked that the mates sit next to their partners in order for the cubs to know who's who.

Cole absolutely hated water and would cry and whine and squeak – which was his attempt at a roar – at his mother's when they gave him his weekly bath. In lion form they only had to bath once a week and their fur would stay smooth and soft until their next bath.

Kody loved bath time and would swim in the water earning laughs from his mothers. He was the most mischievous one out of all three boys and would test his mother's every chance he got.

Mitchell was the quietest of the three but loved to cuddle and was a definite mommy's boy, constantly following Brittany around when he was awake.

They still had fuzzy fur and had started growing their lions' milk teeth so Santana and Brittany had weaned their lions off the bottle and onto solid food but, when they shifted back to human form, they'd go back on the bottle and eat baby purée until their humans started growing milk teeth. Santana and Brittany would feed them thinned and sliced steaks, each of them getting one and finishing it off. They now had their own, rather large, food bowls with their names printed on them as well – Cole's was canary yellow, Kody's was grass green and Mitchell's was navy blue. The markings on their fur had also become clearer with Cole's raven stripe becoming darker and the white spot behind his ear more visible as well as the raven tips of his ears getting darker as well. Kody's dark brown spots had become a darker brown and he'd gotten tiny dark brown speaks between his ears. Mitchell's white tipped ears had become more visible as well and he'd gotten one random dark brown patch on his front left paw.

Santana had shifted as soon as she woke up and Brittany got ready to meet the pride outside with Santana and the boys before she carried the three cubs downstairs to the carpet separating the dining room from the kitchen and watched Santana gently swat at them with her paw when they climbed on her while she made the four lions their breakfast as she ate a bowl of cereal. Santana now had her own bowl as well with her name on it and it was deep red. Brittany then put their food down with their full, yet smaller than their food bowls, milk bowls that were the same color as their food bowls and had their names on them as well.

She then ate some more cereal and drank a cup of coffee while she watched her family eat before she put all the empty bowls in the dishwasher and opened the backdoor, heading onto the back porch and holding the door open for Santana and the cubs who followed their lion mother's front legs as they walked underneath her stomach. Brittany shut the door and smiled as she walked down the front steps in front of her family and saw the pride waiting in the grassy area behind the two houses. She waved at the mates and gave them all hugs when she got to them before petting all the lions as her family followed slowly behind her. Santana was walking slowly for the cubs' sake as they couldn't walk as fast as she could, still slightly clumsy in their steps.

Brittany studied all the other lions' fur and then had their lions features locked in her mind; Quinn's lioness was slightly smaller than Brooke's and she had one white ear, tawny fur and one dark brown ear and the end of her tail was dark brown as well. Brooke's lioness was also a tawny color, the end of her tail dark brown, and both her ears had dark brown spots at the back of them. Blaine's lion was slightly smaller than Riley's but still bigger than Brooke's and Quinn's and his mane was completely raven while his tawny fur was covered in the same dark brown specks that Kody had between his ears, his long tail ending in raven fur. Riley's lion was bigger than Blaine's, Brooke's and Quinn's but way smaller than Santana's; her fur was also tawny and her tail ended in dark brown mixed with light brown fur. Her front right paw and back left paw were white and she had a dark brown stripe going down her spine which was similar to Cole's but lighter in color. And Santana's lion was the biggest of the lot, her head ending at Brittany's chin. The end of her long, thick tail was raven colored and she had dark brown patches behind both her ears with a light brown stripe traveling down her spine. Her mane was huge, a dark brown mixed with raven, and she even had some of her mane on her lion's chest and the elbows of her front legs. And they were all beautiful and way larger than regular sized adult lions and lionesses.

Penny, Kurt, Puck and Louis cooed when they caught sight of the cubs underneath Santana's stomach as she got closer and Brittany smiled, sitting down in the open space of the circle the pride had made and waiting for Mitchell to come to her with Cole and Kody noticing and following suit. As soon as the cubs had clumsily fallen into the space between Brittany's crossed legs, Santana lay down behind the woman and roared loudly, telling the other lions in the pride that if the cubs came to them they could bond.

"They are so cute." Penny said as she looked at the cubs from where she lay with her head on Riley's side right opposite where Santana and Brittany sat. Brittany smiled and stroked her cubs as they looked around at all the pride members, panting from their walk over.

"They are." She agreed and Louis smiled, Brooke's large lion head rested on his outstretched legs while he leaned back on his hands.

"They have distinct differences." He said and the mates agreed, "Which one's which?"

"This is Cole; future King." Brittany said, lifting Cole up and showing the group as they studied his fur before she put him down, out of the safety of her lap, and watched as he looked around the group before moving over to Kurt who had his head rested on Blaine's side in the same position as Penny. He walked clumsily up to the man, smelled him and made his squeak which the mates chuckled at, "That's his little roar. Kurt, you can pick him up. Just watch his teeth, they're quite sharp." Brittany warned before lifting Kody into her hands and putting him down in front of her crossed legs, "That's Kody." She said and the pride studied his three dark brown spots and the dark brown specks between his ears, implanting what his lion looked like in their minds before he looked around the group and walked straight to Louis and Brooke, climbing onto Louis' lap and biting on Brooke's ear. Brooke gently swatted his rear-end with her left paw and he clumsily walked over her head and extracted his claws to climb up Louis' shirt to his shoulder which he lay over and did his squeaky roar earning chuckles from the group, "And, last but not least, this is Mitchell." Brittany said, putting Mitchell in front of her lap on nervous legs and letting the group study his white tipped ears and the brown patch on his left paw before he turned and climbed back into Brittany's lap, resting his head on the crook in her crossed legs. They chuckled and Brittany scratched his little head, "He's shy." She told them, "He'll come to you when he's a little more comfortable." She then lifted him up and lay back into Santana, resting her head on the lion's side and stretching her legs out in front of her before putting Mitchell on her chest and stroking him as he lay down between her breasts and looked around at the group.

"Britt, you look—" Louis began before Penny finished for him.

"—fantastic."

"Fantastic." Louis agreed with a nod and Kurt nodded as well along with Puck who was scratching Quinn's head between her ears. Kody clawed his way back down Louis' shirt and retracted his claws before climbing clumsily over Brooke's head and taking a clumsy stumbling leap off of Louis' lap before walking to Quinn and Puck, "He's a feisty little guy." Louis said and Brittany nodded with a chuckle as Mitchell stood on her chest and moved slowly off of her before walking nervously towards Penny and Riley, curling up against Riley's mane and letting Penny stroke his fur with a proud smile.

The cubs continued to bond with the rest of the pride, all of them cooing over the tiny lions, before they eventually made _I'm hungry_ cries and Santana roared, agreeing with them. So the couple said goodbye to the pride and Brittany put all three cubs on Santana's back as they walked back to the house with their tired and hungry boys.

When they got back to the house Brittany fed the three lions in their now clean bowls and gave them some milk to drink before putting the bowls back in the dishwasher and turning it on before she put the tired and falling asleep cubs on Santana's back and followed the large lion upstairs to their bedrooms where she put each one in their crib, covered them with a blanket and then went to the family room with Santana behind her, yawning. She sat on one of the sofas and Santana lay on the same one, resting her large head in Brittany's lap, letting the blonde run her fingers through her big mane as they both fell asleep. They then woke up six hours later at dinner time to the sound of all three cubs crying for the bathroom and dinner through the intercom. They moved to their rooms and Santana carried them, still crying, on her back to the bathroom before Brittany put them in the litter box and all three immediately made a number one and two before burying their number two's and letting Brittany put them back on Santana's back before she followed them downstairs for dinner.

Brittany prepared the cubs and Santana's food first before heating up some microwavable mac and cheese, sitting in the breakfast nook while the four lions ate their dinner.

The day was brilliant and successful – the cubs all bonded with each of the eight other pride members and played for a while on their play mats after dinner until they were tired and Brittany and Santana took them to bed with them falling asleep on Santana's back on the way to their nurseries. Santana immediately shifted back to her human form as soon as the last bedroom door was shut and she smiled at her fiancée, lifting the woman into her arms and carrying her to the bathroom bridal style, sitting her on the toilet seat, tapping into the cub's rooms on the bathroom intercom and then turning on the shower. Brittany got the hint and they both removed their clothes, climbing into the shower after Santana put a condom on her fully erect penis and giggling like schoolgirls as they kissed while Santana hoisted Brittany into her arms and leaned her against the shower wall, lining her member up with Brittany's entrance and pushing in earning a surprised gasp.

This was the first time the couple was making love since Brittany was pregnant with the boys and they were both incredibly relieved to be able to be with each other in that way again. Santana began a slow rhythm as Brittany moaned softly, her forehead resting on Santana's and her arms slung around the woman's neck while the water washed over them. Santana joined their lips before picking up the pace of her thrusts and grunting into Brittany's mouth earning a moan.

"Oh, God." Brittany breathed out as she tangled her finger's in Santana's now wet hair before she let out a loud moan of approval when Santana pushed herself all the way in and held herself there before pulling back out and thrusting back in as hard and deep as she could, "Shit! San!"

Santana buried her head in Brittany's neck and began to kiss it as she began to thrust in and out as fast as she could earning loud moans of pleasure and approval from her fiancée who dug her nails into a tan back and threw her head back against the shower wall. Santana thrust in deeper when Brittany told her to and began to grunt into the woman's neck after she'd placed a rather large hickey just under her jaw. Brittany's thighs began to shake and she announced she was about to cum, spurring her fiancé on and earning three hard thrusts into her G-spot which sent her over the edge and she squeezed her legs together, trapping Santana between them as she arched her body off the wall and into Santana's chest. The brunette's hips began to jerk and she came into the condom before she began to sink to her knees, causing Brittany to slide down the wall with her as she lay the woman on the floor and began to laugh euphorically. Brittany, now panting, laughed along with her and brought her into a tight embrace, kissing her cheek and canting her hips up.

"I love you." She whispered and Santana smiled, pressing a lingering kiss to her neck before raising her head and looking into Brittany's beautiful blue eyes.

"I love you more." She said and Brittany smiled brightly as the water continued to wash over them as they lay on the shower floor in each other's arms.

"I love you most."


End file.
